Identity Crisis
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: The Doctor's 'Twin', his clone. Left behind to take care of Rose while the original ran off back to the 'home' universe for more adventures. But a clone can't always replace the original, and Rose isn't satisfied with the Doctor's solution. Which leaves the question: what's a double to do when you half-human and half Time Lord, with the chance to start fresh locked? Go to the past!
1. Chapter 1

One might call it an identity crisis.

He called it a nightmare. He woke up every morning with memories_ that weren't his_. With a girl that loved someone who shared his face, who had adventures with someone else.

Rose might love the Doctor, but _he wasn't her Doctor_. And he was reminded of that fact every day.

Yes, he had all the memories, experiences and even his body, but the simple fact was that the original was back where he belonged and he was stuck here living the life of another man.

And he hated it.

Rose never said anything, but he could see it in her eyes every time she listened to his single heartbeat at night.

She didn't mind when the wanderlust he inherited from the original kicked in. What she didn't know was that he had been going to a therapist twice a week trying to sort out his own head.

Sometimes humans could be more insightful than half the alien races put together. It probably didn't hurt that he was half-human himself.

There were days he wished he were a full Time Lord or full human, if only to get rid of the uncertainty in his life.

* * *

"I'm breaking up with you."

Six words...five you counted the first as one...that he had been expecting/dreading for several years now.

Rose tried, she honestly tried, but he wasn't her Doctor. He had all his memories, his face and his clothes, but there was also human in him.

He blamed the fact he got half of Donna's DNA for that.

So no, he wasn't exactly surprised when Rose got tired of someone who had her Doctor's face but was far more human. It still hurt though.

Still, at least Rose let him take his travel bag with him. To be honest, he had been anticipating this for months, but had covered that by claiming he had the Doctor's wanderlust. Something Rose knew full well. So he left.

Rose would never say it out loud, but she was disappointed and angry he didn't even look back.

* * *

For years he would travel, looking for something to fill the void of not being the Doctor. He was a pale imitation of a great man, one stuck wearing the face of another.

And he hated it. How was he supposed to make a clean break with the face of another?

So he spent more time than he cared to think about on time travel. Anything to give him a chance to make a name for himself. A name that didn't involve the word 'doctor'.

"Magic?"

He knew magic existed of course, but it vanished after the Carrionittes had been sealed away. Apparently the same couldn't be said of this world.

Still, he was intrigued. For years, he had looked for a scientific way to change things. But he had failed at every turn. Even finding Gallifrey (although it was completely empty) hadn't helped. The only thing that could change his appearance properly would be regeneration, and Donna's human DNA had locked that as well as kept his second heart from starting.

Perhaps magic could activate the Time Lord powers he had been unable to use? His body was getting a bit frayed after all.

It took him three years to track down their world...and nine months before he finally found a way to hopefully kick-start his Time Lord DNA beyond his appearance and mind.

Now he would just have to hope his new body would open up the watch once he was grown up enough to use it. Thank you magical adoptions and accidentally-on-purpose destroying the large time turner in the Ministry!

He grinned. This was more like it. An entire timeline that wasn't run by idiots glued to their technology. A place where people wouldn't recognize him or his face, a place where _she_ didn't exist.

It took him very little time to track down a way to permanently de-age himself. It wasn't that it was illegal, just really, really expensive.

Fortunately with his stolen sonic screwdriver (pilfered from Gallifrey...along with an experimental TARDIS he had found. Thanks to the technological superiority of the Time Lords, he had a way to get around without having to rely on the police box _he_ had used.

The year was 1977, and he had a lot of work ahead before he could get his freedom and hopefully his life back.

* * *

It was amazing how little these magicals thought of those without it. So the fact he was able to waltz into the 'bank' with several hundreds of pounds of gold bullion and had it converted to whatever the hell currency they used meant that everyone assumed he was an odd old wizard. Having seen the face that haunted his every waking moment in the alley earlier had told him deaging to the point he had been when he was first 'born' was a _bad idea_. He didn't want to be associated with 'that man' if he could help it.

"You want a specially locked vault, one that would require a riddle to open?" said the goblin incredulous.

"Is there a problem, Master Goblin?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well no, but most wizards these days are so lazy they stick with a simple key. Even the former Ravenclaws. It's just surprising is all."

"I don't like people undeserving of the artifacts to even look at them. If they aren't going to put in the effort, then they don't deserve a single coin, let alone the real treasures I'm leaving behind. Now, who am I going to talk to about certain potions?" he asked.

"Third hall and take two lefts and a right at the fifth intersection," came the immediate reply. He slid two gold coins for the trouble. "Pleasure doing business with you good sir."

This man knew the rules of the game. Definitely one the goblins would watch out for.

"Next!"

He walked with a purpose. So long as he acted like he belonged, no one would question his presence.

"What do you want, _wizard_?" demanded the irate goblin potion-master.

"Let's talk shop Master Goblin, and perhaps you might come out of this day several hundred galleons richer."

"Go on."

"I need a potion that would allow the body to de-age and change appearances based on whichever family it lands in."

"You're talking about a magical adoption along with some form of metamorph potion. Very dangerous for a wizard of you age. It would be easier to do a reincarnation ritual, though odds are you won't even remember yourself once it's done."

"Let me worry about that. I have a way to restore the memories," he replied.

"Very well. You should know this is a very risky and considered Dark ritual...though finding a ritual that wasn't automatically labeled dark by those idiots is near impossible these days."

"I don't care how risky it is. Once I've set up my vault and sealed the memories away, I intend to make things right. Even if it means I have to lose something in return."

"Come back in a week, and we'll have the ritual room prepared for you."

He nodded and passed the goblin what was half of what was left of his gold coins.

His next stop was to create a sealed vault that could only be opened with the right password.

The watch would go in last.

* * *

It was a very happy Christmas that year, as Lily announced to their friends she was pregnant. They had all but given up hope, seeing as how James was very nearly infertile due to inbreeding issues.

She had told him going to a muggle specialist would help. Being validated was the last thing on her mind at the moment. Hearing her friend Alice was also having a child simply made the Christmas that much brighter.

However she wasn't so joyful when it came time for their son to come out.

"JAMES POTTER I AM NEVER LETTING YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN!"

"FRANK, YOU ARE NOT COMING NEAR ME WITH A TEN FOOT STAFF!"came Alice's quick accompaniment. By some strange stroke of luck, both of them were delivering their sons the same day.

Then again, they did somehow end up syncing when it came to pregnancy hormones.

James and Frank winced at the amount of cursing and strength the women had in their hands. James just knew some of his finger bones had to be broken, or cracked.

Frank honestly had no idea his wife could swear worse than Black on a bender.

Around ten at night, Alice gave birth to her son Neville. And at exactly 13 minutes and 13 seconds past midnight on July thirty-first, Lily gave birth to her son Harry.

Harry James Corvus Potter.

Apparently it was a Black family tradition to name their children after star constellations. (Case in point, James second middle name was Pavo, which Lily thought was highly appropriate.)

"Why the crow constellation?" asked Lily, a few months later. She would have expected Draco, considering how much James loved watching the _Dragon Heart_ movie she rented.

*Apparently Remus did a bit of acting after he graduated Hogwarts, seeing as how it was one of the few things he could get a job at. He played the selfish king with the dragon's heart and made the mistake of telling his friends about it.

"Because his eyes remind me of an old crow, one who's gotten a lot of wisdom...and because I heard Narcissa mentioning how she's going to name her son Draco and there's no way in hell I'm having my son share the same name as a bloody Malfoy."

Lily rolled her eyes, but she could agree to that.

Besides, when she first looked in her son's eyes, she could definitely see what her husband meant. He did have the eyes of a wise old man in an infant's body.

* * *

"Lily! Run!"

"JAMES!"

A flash of green light. That's all it was. However it was the power behind that light that caused so much heartache and despair.

The Killing curse took away his parents, but because of the unique nature of the ritual, it could not kill him. He knew how easy it would be to killed as a human. They died every day, sometimes in the most bizarre and ridiculous of ways.

So he had an extra added to the reincarnation ritual. Because of the climate he had found himself in, if he were ever hit by one of the three Unforgivables, then one of three effects would happen.

If he were hit with the Imperius, he would develop an automatic Occulmency shield that couldn't be broken unless he allowed it.

If he was hit with the Crucio, then he would develop his mind at an accelerated rate, until it was back to the level he originally started with.

If he were hit with the Killing Curse...his second heart would be forced to start up in response, hopefully keeping him alive. For some reason the heart that was beating happened to be the right one when he reincarnated, not that his 'parents' knew about that.

Where one door closes, another opens. In this case it killed Voldemort at the expense of restarting a heart that had grown but hadn't started because of human DNA. It had just been a random cluster of muscle in his body until now.

The amount of energy to start up an up-till-then unused muscle was enough to wipe the poor child out cold.

When Sirius Black arrived, he found the boy unconscious and to all appearances not breathing. However he wasn't cold, which meant he could still be alive.

Unknown to James (but not to Lily, who had helped him get into the classes) Sirius knew CPR. He had seen a good friend drown when he was a boy and was unable to help him because none of the adults he rant to get were certified healers...and when they were finally called it was too late.

Determined not to repeat the incident, Sirius asked Lily to help him learn how muggles dealt with the issue. She immediately enrolled him into life guard classes...which he now put to use.

He applied just the right amount of pressure under the left side of the chest and waited a few moments to make sure the boy was breathing. The child gave him one of his many odd looks after the second try.

Unknown to Sirius, he had inadvertently restarted the heart that Voldemort had shut down with his curse, giving Harry both hearts to use.

It would baffle muggle doctors for years after, but for the moment, Harry had both of them working properly for the first time in years.

It would be the first in a long series of events that would give Harry all the things he had been denied because of the way he had been initially 'born' in that other universe.

* * *

***(A/N: Look it up if you don't believe me. The actor who played the king in _Dragon Heart_ also played Remus Lupin. And if that weren't freaky enough, the one who plays Sirius Black also played the main terrorist in _Air Force One. _The last one to die via a snapped neck when Harrison Ford tells him "Get off my plane" before releasing him in his parachute.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Harry "Cory" Potter was a quiet, sometimes easy to miss child.

Okay, very easy to miss.

The teachers did roll call and if not for the fact he spoke up loud enough to be counted, he could very easily be missed. In fact, he often was, not that he noticed or cared. With his nose often in a book, he generally forgot there was a world around him.

The only child who could possibly be conceived as his 'friend', or as he would call her whenever he took notice of someone next to him also reading (he would dub her a fellow sufferer of idiots who couldn't understand simple mathematics or science later on) was a girl named Granger.

She was bushy haired and all the girls despised her. However she immediately clicked with him because he A) didn't chase her off calling her a buck-toothed know-it-all and B) would often explain a book if she was having trouble understanding something from it. The two had a quiet companionship that mostly derived from their love of books, their hatred of bullies, and the fact that strange things often occurred around them.

Case in point, the one and only time a substitute teacher (who unfortunately for him happened to know Vernon) took notice of him reading and advanced science book in class and tried to confiscate it, his wig turned blue and looked like he had stuck his arm in an electric socket. Harry had promptly returned the book, as he had finished it while the man tried and failed to put the hair on his wig back down.

He wisely avoided the house for a week, preferring to sleep on the playground rather than tempt Vernon's rage. Thankfully his 'friend' had learned to bring extra lunch bags after discovering his "cousin's" bad habit of destroying Harry's lunch.

Her parents were less than happy to learn of the fact Dudley was not only never punished for such despicable behavior, but was often actively encouraged by his parents to do worse. But unless Harry spoke up, there was nothing they could do about it.

Well, outside of organizing multiple 'playdates' which in actuality were covers for them to take Harry and their daughter to London for educational trips to the zoo, among other places.

So long as he got 'permission' via angering his aunt or uncle to the point they threw him out, no one bothered to care.

At least thanks to the efforts of the Grangers he didn't look like a bloody scarecrow or child from a third world nation where food was scarce.

Tomorrow was his eleventh birthday, and he had already secured a playdate (read exile from the house) with the Grangers. They considered him their second child, and Hermione was more than happy to treat him like the brother she never had.

* * *

"Happy birthday Harry," said Emma.

"Thank you," he said, happily accepting the cake. Birthdays, Valentines Day, and Christmas were the only times they were allowed sugar in the Granger household. The reason for that was simple.

Both the Grangers were dentists.

Hence the reason why, whenever he had enough money in his pocket he always bought a chocolate bar or other easy to hide treat to share with Hermione.

"So what's on the schedule for today?"

"The London museum has an interesting exhibit, and there's supposed to be a sale outside the national library," said Dan.

Seeing the looks on their faces, he smirked.

"Library last for you two. You can wipe the place clean after we see the museum, and we're not carrying the books for you."

"Deal," said Harry, pleased. He immediately grabbed his extra large messenger bag.

The exhibit on dinosaurs was interesting, but he had the feeling they were much more impressive when they were alive. He didn't know whether it was from the movie he had recently seen called _Night at the Museum_, or some instinctive knowledge. Either way, he was more interested at the science section.

Not the kid's section, which was full of interactive things for young aspiring scientists, but the adult one dedicated to the great minds of the past few centuries.

The demonstration Emma had mentioned was going to be in there. They were going to challenge the minds of the audience and open up a new science exhibit at the same time.

Harry took one look at the exhibit they were putting together and very nearly turned around.

"We should probably go, it looks like they're having trouble putting it together," said Harry. He didn't know how he knew that (or why he had always been able to read the advanced science books in the library that most kids wouldn't have a hope to hell of understanding...Hermione was barely able to understand half of it) but he knew that they were setting the entire thing up wrong.

What he didn't know was that it was a deliberate mistake.

"Oh? Well young man if you think you know how it's supposed to look, let's see you put it together," said one of the demonstrators.

Harry went up to the table and began to assemble the entire thing in less than five minutes.

The demonstrator didn't look angry. Quite the opposite in fact.

"How exactly did you know the exhibit was wrong?"

"I don't know. I've always found the science books in the library to be too simple, so I usually switch to the fantasy section instead. Fantasy is just a vision of what's to come once science catches up after all," said Harry.

"Ha! Spoken like a true well-rounded scientist. Tell me, have you ever taken an IQ test?"

"No, but Hermione was almost put into the advanced classes because of one."

Hermione had taken a minor IQ test, and while her ability to think things through was excellent, her memory retention had kept her from the advanced classes. As did the fact that it was very apparent that she had trouble handling stress and put too much stock in book learning as opposed to real world learning. She would have burnt out because she had trouble learning to relax during test time.

Harry on the other hand, was hiding in the library because Dudley had been in a foul mood and had missed the test entirely.

Harry and Hermione were taken to a side room already prepared as someone broke down the exhibit again. It was a trick to weed out those with higher minds.

Hermione had been frustrated by several of the questions, but Harry simply breezed right through them.

She always knew he had been downplaying how smart he was.

Either way, they would need a few days to tally his score (which would be sent to Dan and Emma's home instead of the Dursleys for obvious reasons, but that only meant they could head to the bookstore once they finished lunch.

* * *

The moment the children laid eyes on the large amount of books on the tables, it was like setting piranhas on a wounded carcass. There was no escape, and it was like watching a train wreck with horrified fascination, complete with explosions.

Dan and Emma, from long dint of experience after the first time they unleashed the two terrors, picked up a few books to read and then found a place to watch the chaos of the children haggling over used books.

They didn't have to worry about the two...anyone foolish enough to kidnap or otherwise interrupt their fun was sure to receive...discipline...via Harry. The last idiot who tried to kidnap the boy during a book run (which had become an annual tradition) had to be sent to the hospital because the boy had taken offense and broke both the man's legs, the arm holding him, and a very serious concussion courtesy of the book Harry had been holding at the time...it had been a hardback.

(Harry can perform the "Maka-Chop" from _Soul Eater_. Never underestimate a hardcover book.)

Besides, the people at the bookstore knew the two _very_ well. They were favorite customers with how many books they bought.

It was dark by the time they left...Harry had procured enough books to keep him happy for the next four months if he paced himself. Hermione didn't see what his fascination with the odd comics that read the wrong way was, but she knew better than to complain. He was quite literally the only friend she had.

It was quite a shock to find two large owls waiting for them once they returned back.

To make it even more surreal, they had letters made of heavy, old-style parchment paper with the names of both Harry and Hermione.

Naturally this alarmed the adults, but Hermione was too intrigued by the idea of a school for magic to not reply. Or she would have had Harry not had the bright idea of waiting to see if there were other viable options other than a place that quite literally had _robes_ and _quills_ as required materials.

He refused to dress in a robe and there was no way he was going to bother with quills and ink pots when pens were so much easier.

He had the feeling Petunia would know more about this...he would have to approach her in a good mood.

* * *

Armed with a rare and very hard to find plant from outside Britain, something he knew his aunt would lord over the other neighbors for months if given the opportunity, he waited until she was alone. That meant skipping school, but at this point the teacher were more likely to send Harry's reports to the Grangers as they had figured out the Dursleys wanted nothing to do with him.

It was simply less headache inducing for everyone, since for some reason any attempts to adopt him always fell through.

"What do you want boy?" demanded the slightly-less-irate-than-normal Petunia. And by that he would mean she was at least willing to listen to the question without trying to kick him out of the room.

"What do you know about Hogwarts, or any alternative schooling for this magic?"

He found that being blunt and not bothering to beat around the bush tended to make things a lot easier.

Petunia let out an angry hiss.

"So that damn thing came did it? Hogwarts was the school your mother went to...before she married that bastard James Potter and got killed by the monster haunting the bloody layabouts," spat Petunia.

Maybe it was the fact he had the forethought to placate her first with a rare plant, or perhaps it was the mention of alternate schooling that did it. Either way Petunia told him everything she knew about the place including someone she absolutely loathed...a certain wizard by the name Albus Dumbledore.

Apparently she had wanted to see the school, even if it was only once, but he had denied her simple request. And by the time Lily could have taken her to at least Hogsmeade, they had already become quite distant and Petunia was too embarrassed to think about asking.

And then she was killed and she never got the chance.

Harry listened patiently.

"Aunt Petunia, if I do end up in this Hogwarts place, would you like pictures? I know _he_ would never understand, but since I don't think I could bring you to the castle I could easily take plenty of pictures of the place for you."

Petunia was stunned. She had never thought her nephew would be willing to fulfill a long-held desire to see Hogwarts. She would have to hide them from Vernon of course, but that was a small price to pay to finally see the castle.

Her face, for the first time since he had known her, softened.

"If you do go to the school, I would like that," she said.

Perhaps he could take her to see it first hand once he graduated. If he went to Hogwarts anyway. Either way it looked like they would have to make a trip to this...Diagon Alley... soon.

* * *

Harry clutched his newly bought camera. Upon hearing the full circumstances as to why Petunia had treated her nephew so badly in the first place, they had bought him a camera so he could take as many pictures as he could for her.

Envy truly was a dangerous thing if it could turn someone like Petunia into such a horrible person. Vernon had only exasperated the problem because of his beliefs that anyone not English or 'normal' was a lesser human. Dudley...he was simply a product of a bad situation and bad parenting. There was a chance he could be saved, but it would probably take something drastic at this point.

Harry was the one who found several pamphlets for 'muggleborns' near the bookstore. It was in an out of the way corner, but his habit of perusing the entire bookstore allowed him to find it within five minutes of entering the place.

He wondered why they didn't showcase the pamphlets up front like a normal bookstore.

As quietly as he could, he relocated the entire display, leaving a trail of dust behind him. He bumped into something, but nothing was on the floor. Whatever it was, it was blocking his relocation of the display.

Further inspection revealed a small box full of invisible books. He grabbed two, figuring if these people didn't have enough common sense to remember where they put the books, he didn't have to pay for them.

Finder's keepers after all.

He grabbed one of each, and promptly left the bookstore.

Unknown to him, his little trick would lead to a large amount of first-generation magicals to chose alternative schooling for their children, leading to a smaller class size.

And a large amount of first-generation muggleborns secretly planning to create their own Ministry to slowly replace the old outdated one.

* * *

"Next!"

Harry didn't know why, but he remembered this place. The creatures didn't look like what he would think a dwarf would appear like or a gnome. Which left two things. Either an orc or a goblin, and considering the fact they were short, surly tempered creatures with well-forged weapons, he was betting goblins.

Which really begged the question...why on earth were _goblins_ running a bank of all things?

"Great, another group of idiots to try their luck at that wretched vault. Why we agreed to let these fools try to open it I'll never know. The next group is about to go down, take the door to the right," said the goblin annoyed.

The Ministry, in an attempt to allocate funds after the war, convinced (read: forced and blackmailed) the goblins to open up dead vaults. Of course if an heir were to step up, they would be repaid in full once their claim was verified, but until then the vaults would be considered dead.

However _one_ vault was causing them no end of trouble because it was sealed with a riddle instead of a simple key. And since according to the goblins the one who had set it that way had left some form of one-of-a-kind treasure, the Ministry was especially eager to get into it.

Dan and Emma saw no reason not to let the kids try their luck. It wasn't very dangerous, since there were other children their age there as well.

And so they went deep into the bowels of the bank tunnels to the mysterious vault.

Harry didn't know why, but the weird nostalgia feeling he was getting refused to go away. Almost like he was remembering this trip from a long time ago and was simply making a return to this vault.

One by one the people made their attempts. There was only one try per person, and once ten people failed they were sent above.

Harry's group was the last to make their attempt.

Harry walked calmly up to the vault, and felt a mental nudge.

Without warning, the door knocker immediately asked in an otherworldly voice _"What was the first word this man said to his companion?"_

There was a face, and something clicked.

"Run."

To the shock of the goblins, the vault swung open. Harry looked inside, and took out only _one _thing from the vault itself.

At least now the goblins could honestly say the vault was claimed.

"What do you have there Harry?"

"I don't know. But something told me it was important," said Harry.

In his hand was an old-style pocket watch with the oddest design the Grangers had ever seen. After Harry put it in his pocket, they forget he even had it.

**(A/N:In case anyone was wondering, the face was Rose.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Harry looked at the books he had gotten in disgust. More and more he read ahead, the more he kept running into the same theme.

He didn't know what a pure blood was, but frankly from the amount of drivel he kept reading in these 'textbooks' he would bet inbreeding was involved and far too much of it to sustain a healthy population growth.

Hermione, once he got her over the excitement of a new subject in which he was just a beginner like her, began to find the same parallels he kept running into. This was becoming a very unpleasant pattern, especially when she accidentally found the 'pure bloods' had a racial slur for people like herself.

She had cried for an hour when she found out about the word "mudblood" and what the original definition meant.

More and more they were beginning to have serious doubts about going to this Hogwarts. It seemed far too mired in old blood and old money to be a viable place to send new blood into. And from the curriculum list Harry had found being used as a bookmark in an old book he picked up, it was clear that several classes had been cut for some reason.

So they used the owl which had apparently attached itself to Harry to start asking around about alternative schooling. The white owl had a lot of flying that month.

Emma was staring at the envelope's contents in absolute shock.

They had gotten the test results back...and while they had known Harry was intelligent this was far and beyond what she would have guessed.

He wasn't just intelligent, he had the highest IQ ever recorded in the past fifty years. And yet he downplayed his intelligence to stay under the radar. Hermione's was also pretty high, but no where near where Harry's evidently was at.

Hermione had always known her brother-in-all-but-blood was smarter than her, but he never lorded it over her. This would probably shock her as much as it had her mother.

"Mum?"

"Here's the test results dear," said Emma.

Hermione read hers, and she seemed inordinately pleased.

"I've got a score higher than Einstein's! Is that Harry's?" she asked.

Emma nodded, and handed it over.

Hermione took one look at the score...and promptly handed it back before she went to find Harry.

"OW! OW! OW! Hermione, what this about?!" he asked, trying and failing to fend off the irate girl.

"I knew you were always holding back!" she yelled, whacking him with the book he had been reading. Fortunately it was one of those Japanese comics he liked so much.

"Do you really think I care about what some test says?"

"_Two hundred and fifty?!"_ said Hermione shrilly.

Harry had actually held back on that test. He, however, wisely never mentioned this fact. Hermione was liable to get a hardback instead of the paperback she was hitting him with at the moment.

"Ahem," said a voice from the other side of the fence. Whoever it was, they looked like a teacher. "Is this the residence of the Grangers?"

"Mum, someone's here to see you!" said Hermione, before she went back to hitting Harry.

"Oh my."

"Hello Mrs. Granger, I'm Maria Hemming from the Avalon Academy for Magic. I believe you had some questions about the curriculum?"

"Yes. Hermione, you can chastise Harry later."

"Yes Mum," said Hermione, though the glare she sent Harry made him wonder if he should spend the night back at his 'home' instead.

* * *

"I understand you had some questions, though I must admit we were surprised someone had bothered to send out a letter asking about us. For some reason very few people know about us, outside of the odd transfer student."

"Hogwarts, right?" asked Harry knowingly. Maria nodded. "The pamphlets detailing alternative magical schools was hidden in an unobtrusive corner of the bookstore. I moved it when we first visited because it made little sense to have it that far back where most people wouldn't even see it."

Maria's mouth thinned.

"So you're the reason why we've had an upsurge of new students. Thank you. We always wondered why so few chose our school over that outdated castle. Some of our competitors were also wondering about that."

The trade schools were actually having students _enrolling _for the first time in years, outside of those seeking their masters in certain areas.

Finding out the pamphlets had been hidden explained a lot, though it begged the question as to why they had been placed somewhere no one would notice them in the first place.

Maria explained the various classes, warning them against certain schools because they preferred certain...bloodlines...or were simply too gender exclusive.

Hogwarts wasn't even considered the second she confirmed it didn't even have internet, the teachers were more concerned about containing the feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and the most damning evidence of all... the fact that they did nothing to contain rampant bullying so long as it was kept out of sight or done in the form of pranks. She had quite a bit to say about James Potter, who despite being a pure blood who didn't care about keeping the blood 'pure', had been an extreme bully who targeted the Slytherins more often than not.

The most frequent target of his 'pranks', which were more like humiliating traps, was one Severus Snape, who currently taught potions.

Only a fool would tempt a former victim with the son of the man who tormented them, and Harry was most definitely not a fool. There was also the fact that since Snape came to teach, the number of potionmasters, Aurors and Healers had dropped like a stone. The man was a genius at potions, but it was painfully clear he despised children and hated teaching.

Harry asked most of the questions, with Hermione's occasional accompaniment.

In the end they agree Avalon might be a good choice, seeing as how Hogwarts wasn't even worth their time. It was a place for future politicians and Ministry workers, a position neither child was interested in. Besides, there was no way they were giving up their internet addiction.

* * *

Minerva McGongall had seen many things. But this really took the cake.

Albus damn near had a heart attack upon reading the letter. Snape actually looked pretty happy.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT COMING?!"

"Exactly what the letter says. Rather firmly I might add. He has no desire to see the castle or attend as a student. He is also not very impressed with you at all, particularly your hiring practices."

There was also a note on the letter for one "Professor Snape", which she had handed to him before she read aloud Harry's firm decline of the invitation.

Whatever the note said, it had certainly improved his sour mood for once.

"Well if he's not going to Hogwarts, then where..."

"According to the letter, which I already read twice Headmaster, he does not wish to attend an outdated school that is rife with prejudice, bullying, and is behind the times with only the bare minimum of magical training. He has already secured a second school which he plans to attend, but he never mentions it in the letter," said McGonagall patiently.

While she was disappointed the son of her two favorite students wouldn't be coming, she could understand that he didn't want to be stuck in a school where everyone would only see him for his fame and not for the boy himself.

To be honest, she could hardly blame him for wanting to be swamped as the 'resident celebrity' while he was trying to learn magic.

"But he's been registered since he was born! He has to come!"

"Headmaster, as I recall, the reason you left him with his maternal aunt was to _avoid _having him grow up with a big head thanks to the fame he has. Why are you so determined to have him come to Hogwarts when it's clear he'll just be put under pressure as a celebrity?"

Snape, who hadn't known where Albus put the Boy-Who-Lived, stared at the Headmaster incredulous.

"You left him with _Petunia?! _Are you INSANE Albus? She hated Lily ever since you refused to at least let her come see the school!"

He remembered the row Petunia had after the firm denial to see the school. She had been furious, and now that he thought about it, it was around that time she started hating magic and calling them both freaks.

If Albus really had sent him to Petunia, then it was little wonder he hated bullies. Odds were she still carried a grudge because Lily had been born with magic and not her.

Ironically there was a post script at the end of the note asking for pictures of the castle, and since he highly doubted the boy had a pensieve it meant he would have to get a camera. He mentioned he would be sharing them with his aunt in the hopes it would get her to ease up on the fact he would be learning magic and mend a few bridges.

It would be interesting to meet this Potter, to see if he truly was James' son...or if he was more Lily's boy.

* * *

Spinner's End. It was the last day before the beginning of term, and Snape had a meeting with a child who had already piqued his interest by being polite and apologizing for the fact his father was an ass towards him during school.

There was a knock...and when he opened the door he found someone who looked remarkably like James Potter, but had the same intelligent eyes as his childhood crush Lily. There was no fear, not judgment, only curiosity.

"Come in."

He noticed Petunia was nearby as well. She must have driven him there.

She came in as well, mostly to see what it looked like.

"So you are Severus Snape. I heard about you from Ms. Maria who came to offer me an alternative to Hogwarts. What she said about my father and his gang was most...enlightening to say the least," said Harry finally.

"Enlightening," Snape snorted derisively, "Those four made my life a living hell, all because James Potter just _had_ to have Lily Evans."

Petunia, who had been silent up until that point, snorted in agreement.

"James Potter was a right bastard. I'll never forgive him for ruining my wedding," said Petunia.

The bastard had the _gall _to prank her on her wedding day. All because Lily had attempted to mend bridges, and they had an argument. Apparently he took great offense to being called a freak to his face, so he retaliated with a prank spell that had exploded the wedding cake all over her mother's wedding dress. Petunia had been furious and humiliated.

What she didn't know was that Lily, when she heard what happened, had laid into James for four hours straight and threw James out of the house for an entire month. He couldn't go near her without being hexed, she was so furious.

Bad blood between the sisters or not, there were some lines one didn't cross. James never did learn the concept of taking things way too far.

"Since there's too much animosity between you and James Potter, I thought it would be easier to ask what my mother was like. _She_ (he nodded to Petunia) told me the two of you were close before you had an argument," said Harry.

Then and there, Snape looked at him and couldn't see James Potter. He saw Lily instead. It was actually nice to know that James' son wasn't as cruel as he had been.

So he spent several hours telling the boy about Lily, with the occasional addition of Petunia.

It was blatantly apparently the boy wanted nothing to do with the Marauder legacy. He might indulge in a few pranks, but nothing to the level of what they had done back when they were students.

When he mentioned the Weasley twins, and their attempts to duplicate them, Harry offered a valuable insight he hadn't considered.

Since he went to school with them, he could show them what the Marauders were _really_ like and hopefully dissuade them from going as far as those idiots did. To their credit, the twins never targeted on person in particular, or any one group. The Slytherins just had a bad habit of pissing them off the most.

If it meant avoiding a second incarnation of the Marauders, he felt sharing those experiences with the twins would be entirely worth it, seeing as how they really hated him with a passion.

Fortunately no one would think twice about him giving them both detentions, and this was one lesson he was determined would stick.

* * *

There was an overly cheerful brunette waiting for the new students. At Avalon they didn't try to work around technology, they embraced it. They were the first muggleborn school made once the internet was introduced, and kept a close watch on current trends.

Their current trick to keeping students interested in studying (outside of having free internet in the rooms) was a unique system where they could 'battle' each other using their grade point average as their attack scores.

It made more sense than that ridiculous house point system.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to Avalon, home of the first mock-familiar system in the world! Here, students are assigned generic avatars that can act as familiars inside school grounds that are completely customizable! However, in order to earn these upgrades you have to earn enough 'points' by either doing homework, performing well on tests, or doing special tasks for the teachers! Be warned, detentions and bad behavior or grades will result in lost points and possibly upgrades. We also do not tolerate bullying within school grounds, and if we catch you at it five times you'll be expelled, no questions asked. There are also no blood prejudices here, so anyone using inappropriate racial slurs such as 'mudblood' or 'half-breed' will have a month's worth of detention automatically. No exceptions. Now, everyone will be assigned a shared room, at least until fifth year when you will have the option of getting a single if you wish. Enjoy your stay here and have fun exploring the grounds!" she said.

Harry and Hermione couldn't wait to start learning. This place was so much more fascinating that any drafty old castle.

They went exploring for over an hour before the fact they had yet to have lunch caught up to them.

They happily started sharing their favorite books with the other new students, some much older than they were.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what are you going to make your avatar?" asked Harry. He already had an idea of what his would be. The standard was a random animal...but Harry read enough fantasy novels to decide what he wanted.

"I was thinking an owl, since they said bird avatars have been known to replace the owls the magicals used."

"Didn't they also say that the avatars couldn't be used off school grounds until graduation when we receive our upgraded bracelets?"

Hermione looked a little annoyed.

"You can still borrow Astra if you want," offered Harry.

Astra was what he named his new owl. It was either that or Hedwig, and frankly he felt Astra was better.

"Or you can use the cell towers we have strategically positioned on the school grounds," piped an older student.

"I don't own a cell phone," said Hermione, "and neither does Harry."

"If you earn enough points, you can get one of the kid-friendly phones that run off cell towers through magic. No phone bill, but you have to keep up your grades. And until you earn those points, there are plenty of school phones students are allowed to use to keep in touch with their parents."

The kid-friendly ones were basically like the Jitterbug phones. It gave them a way to contact their parents and a set amount of friends, and that was it.

And that was the basic model for the students. The better the phone, the more points you had to save up to earn it. Some of the older students were working their butts off to earn the newest phone that allowed you to play games, store music and even surf the internet. It was set so high that they would have an incentive to study...and it worked.

Better than the Hogwarts method of 'house points' at any rate. There was no real incentive to keep up good grades or behave.

Hermione perked up.

"Maybe something other than an owl. I remember reading that you can have more than one avatar if your grades are high enough, and they give you a new one once you've spent five years here," said Harry.

"What would you suggest?"

Harry pulled out one of his manga books.

"_Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S?_" she read.

"OH! I love that series!" said another student. A red head with a Scottish accent came up and said, "Amelia Pond."

"Harry and this is my sorta-sister Hermione."

"What's a sorta sister?"

"My family's tried adopting him since his doesn't really like him that much for having magic, but for some reason it always falls through without explanation. So he mostly crashes at my house in the spare bedroom and we treat him like family. He comes so often he's more like my brother than a best friend," explained Hermione. "So what's this series about?"

Amelia looked at Harry.

"Not an Otaku?"

"She's more of a classics fan than a comic one. I like manga because it helps to visualize the things they're describing...and because it gives me a break from the science books I'm usually reading."

"Magical Girl Nanoha is a series about a girl who finds a ferret that turns out to be a boy and becomes a mage though a jewel called Raising Heart. Striker S is the third sequel in the series."

"Hermione needs something to base her avatar off of...and the first thing that came to mind was Zwei."

"Bookworm?"

"Both of us are, but I already have an idea of what I want," agreed Harry.

"Well there's a junior librarian club that will meet next week. Join them and you get exclusive tours to the deeper parts of the library."

Harry's eyes gleamed.

"Is it anything like the Library Exploration Club in _Negima_?" asked Harry.

"Exactly like it."

Harry turned to his sister and said "Join that club. The Library Exploration Club usually finds all sorts of rare and old books while looking through the deeper recesses of the library. Books that have been considered lost or forgotten for centuries."

Hermione took the challenge.

"So who or what is Zwei?"

Harry showed her the series.

"This is Reinforce Zwei, or Rein for short. She's a fairy-like spirit that lives in a book that helps to boost Hayate's power and can help with the math part of the spells. The Nanoha series relies a _lot_ on math calculations, and I think she would be a good fit for you since I know you can do long division in your head," said Harry.

"Just this once I'll humor your addiction to anime. Let's see this series then."

Harry grinned. Hermione had pure addiction in her hands...though he wondered how she would take the yuri-pairings of the series.

* * *

"I hate you so much right now. Why didn't you tell me the main pairings were..."

"Why should it matter that Nanoha and Fate are dating, or that Hayate likes Vita? As far as I'm concerned you can love whoever you want provided they're of the age of consent, not related to you and it doesn't hurt anyone," said Harry flatly.

Vernon was an ass, but he did have his good qualities. Like giving others a sincere dislike of intolerance to your fellow man, a fierce love of exercise and healthy foods, and the ability to spot the brown nosers and cheaters.

In short, everything he wasn't. Harry liked to joke that Vernon and Dudley did have a purpose. They were examples of what to _avoid_.

Hermione stared at him, before she muttered "Boys..." under her breath.

"Still, did you get the inspiration you needed?"

"The series is very well written, but I could do without all the math they throw in," came Hermione's reply.

"Try reading the _Fate/Stay Night_ series. It's even worse."

"No thank you. But I do like the idea of having a spirit like Rein who can help me locate my spell catalog faster."

"Do I know my own sister or not?" smirked Harry.

"This coming from the boy who wears an antique pocket watch, despite the fact he has a wristwatch on his left arm?" came Hermione's response.

"I like my watch, and the one in my pocket is special. Think of it like Edward Elric's State Alchemist watch. It's a badge to show people who you are."

The only problem was that every time he tried to open it up to see inside, he got the distinct feeling that he wasn't ready yet. That there was still something missing before he could open it. So he put it out of mind and mostly wore it around like a fashion statement.

Hermione rolled her eyes. She could understand reading something that had no scholastic value of any kind to unwind, but she had little interest in comics. Something like _Lord of the Rings_ or Shakespeare she could stand, but those things weren't worth her time.

"Besides, I thought you would enjoy a series where most of the major powerhouses are females."

Hermione was a major feminist. She hated fashion, primarily because it was the air-headed fashionable girls at primary school who used to pick on her the most.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"So what exactly are you going to make yours?"

"This."

Harry was decent at drawing. In his sketchpad was the drawing of a bird on fire.

"What is _that_?"

"Phoenix. A bird that habitually sets itself on fire to be reborn from the ashes. Very few things can kill it permanently, and it's tears can heal any poison, almost any wound. It's song can soothe even the most tormented heart."

He felt a strange kinship with the fiery bird, which was why he had chosen it.

"Someone's been reading ahead," said Amelia.

"I like fire," said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Wow...that's one detailed picture."

"I need things other than science to keep my brain from overworking."

It was the drawback he had discovered of having such an intelligent mind. If he didn't keep it focused on things that required computer-like skills, it tended to get overwhelmed. The best defense was to keep it off things that required him to think. So he delved into fantasy, manga, anime, drawing...something that would numb the constant pain in his head. Almost like it was a computer processor constantly stuck at the mid-way level of overheating. Anything too strenuous would lead to a meltdown.

He didn't hold back because of Vernon and Dudley. He held back because if he didn't, his mind would grow so painful that he would have to lie down for several hours. It had happened once. He learned to avoid it ever since.

"So what classes are you going to take?" asked Amelia.

"All of them," came Hermione's immediate response.

"Yeah, no. Here they don't let overachievers take more than ten classes a week. Weekends are free days, but if you want to take extra classes you have to prove you can handle the work load...and if your grades start to slip too far they'll remove them from your class schedule until you learn to balance it out properly."

"Ah...so they've had a Hermione here before," said Harry teasing.

"They've had overachievers trying to get more points through too many classes before," corrected Amelia.

"Like I said, you've had to deal with Hermione before. Ow!"

Hermione had punched him.

"In any case I don't think you'd be able to make a decent phoenix without some serious points saved up. Better to do something like Rein or maybe Yuuno first," said Amelia.

"The upgrades for that are that high?"

"Beyond high. Perpetual fire costs at least ten thousand, and an auto-save feature is easily five," said Amelia.

"...In that case I'll go with my second option. I'll make Archer EMIYA."

Just because he disliked how rabid Nasu-verse fans were about their stories didn't mean he hated the series. Quite the opposite in fact, he felt a kindred spirit in Archer, who got screwed over by the personification of humanity.

"Well you can get a good start on making Archer. There's a test in a few hours that determines which classes you can take in two days."

Hermione would have freaked, had it not been for Harry.

"What kind of test?"

"Personality quiz, a basic overview of how much you studied in school, a baseline IQ quiz."

"So it really has no impact on your placement, but makes getting into certain classes easier."

"Exactly!"

That seemed to calm her down.

Hermione was nervous, Harry wasn't.

* * *

They did the test, then were sent out to where they would get their shiny new avatar bracelets. Once they hit fifth year a second could be added, but until then they had to make do with just one.

Hermione put hers on her right wrist, while Harry put his own on his left. He wasn't left handed, but he didn't feel like worrying about his wrist watch rubbing the wrong way.

"These bracelets are water-proof, magic-proof and EMP-proof," said the teacher.

"EMP?"

"Electro-Magnetic Pulse. It's a sort of wave that emits from things like nuclear explosions that can fry electronics without harming humans, though generally it's paired with an explosion, so that makes it a moot point anyway," explained Harry without even thinking about it. The teacher nodded.

"There is also a function that makes it essentially invisible to metal detectors. While you are here, that bracelet acts as an ID card. It is your key to the classrooms during your scheduled class, but will not open any doors that are not programmed to accept your ID number. Failed attempts to hack into the bracelet will result in lost points. For every fail the number of points taken will be higher until you receive a detention."

Hermione stared.

"You make it sound like you want us to hack them."

"More along the lines of we know there are some techno-geeks out there that could probably hack it, but if you're able to do so we're not going to discourage it. The more times you try, the more you lose point wise and the harder the device will make it. If you _can_ hack it, then you'll be registered and put into classes where you can hone your skills. We are a school after all."

"So if you're a good enough hacker or programmer to convince the bracelet you're an administrator, you get into special classes where you learn tricks of the trade since it takes talent that you're not going to waste," clarified Harry. The teacher nodded.

For someone like Hermione, that was like tossing a book to her and telling her not to read it. She would try to override the usual protocols even if she had to force Harry to do it for her. She was all about extra learning.

Harry turned to his surrogate sister and said flatly "I am not helping you get into those extra classes. You either do it by your own merit or not at all."

Hermione pouted at him. Harry wasn't moved. If Hermione wanted those extra classes so damn badly she would have to earn them herself the old fashioned way.

"Look at the bright side...at least they know what A-levels are here so you can still go to college once we graduate," offered Harry. That cheered her up.

It was the entire reason they had chosen Avalon over Hogwarts. They didn't want to be forced to work only in magical societies because they dropped off the mundane radar scholastic wise, and working through A-levels without the appropriate classes was not fun. At all.


	5. Chapter 5

**He really can't escape the Doctor can he? Coincidentally a few of his companions will be showing up (including Rory!) though Rose won't. As for his avatar...let's just say a certain dimension hopping vampire is going to stir things up soon...and hint of things to come.  
**

**Speaking of hints... Harry (who will have his own Time Lord name to go by!) will be meeting the Eleventh Doctor once he remembers who he is. I hope that sent shivers of anticipation to you all! XD**

* * *

"Rhythm. An under-appreciated, often overlooked skill that has been used by magicals for centuries. Legend has it that Shakespeare was in fact a squib, and that he found a way to use the power of verse to cast spells."

The teacher walked up to the chalk board.

"In this class we will teach you how to use rhythm and phonetic devices in order to amplify your spells and hide the fact you're casting. English wizards several centuries ago found a way to make 'short cuts' for lack of a better term to casting spells, which lead to the modern spell words today. While the modern magical has forgotten their ancient roots in phonetic casting, we are going to show them you don't have to do a lot of silly wand waving to get things done. Welcome to Advanced English Lit and Rhythm," said the teacher grinning viciously.

Her students grinned back at her.

It wasn't mentioned, but spells cast using a building rhythm and phonetic verse tended to be far more powerful than the spells used by most. And it had the added effect of making people think you were just reciting poetry.

Harry had picked it because he liked to read and he enjoyed modern dancing. Part of the class had the students learning things like the waltz and several popular dances. Hermione wasn't as much a fan of dancing, so she chose the regular English Literature class.

Either way it would count towards their English exams later.

To avoid any issues because of Hermione's abrasive personality, they were placed in two different schedules and rooms. Hermione bunked with Amelia Pond, while Harry had a roommate in Rory Williams, a boy who was training to become a healer and a professional nurse.

Unlike Hogwarts, you could become the mundane equivalent of a healer or auror if you didn't mind spending a few extra years in the school or one of their affiliates.

It was a massive change from the pure-blood run schools, where they never mentioned extra schooling once the standard seven years were completed unless you already knew about them.

Which in the case of muggleborns meant they never got the extra training or the knowledge of such things until it was too late to do anything about it.

At least, not until Harry moved that display case where _everyone_ could see it. The store owners hadn't even moved it back, since they generally only cared about theft and not someone moving things around.

Considering they didn't even bother to do inventory and find those invisible books, he didn't feel the least bit sorry for them.

Harry actually felt happy to be in this class. It was great having friends who didn't look down on you for reading a lot, and he was in a few great clubs that didn't hurt his head.

Art club, Otaku club, Dance club, flying club and the Hacker club (exclusive only to those who were able to hack their bracelets within a few months of getting them).

Hermione was still annoyed Harry managed to hack into his own bracelet in less than a night, but considering it wasn't that surprising with his IQ and the amount of technology magazines he tended to read, she let it slide.

Mainly because while he wouldn't hack her bracelet, he would give her tips.

* * *

"So what are you making your avatar Rory?"

"Roman Centurion. I've always liked them," said Rory.

"Nice. So what's our next class?"

Rory looked at the schedule on his bracelet. It was really an all-purpose tool meant to help students. It was their schedules, their keys, their wallet... and since it was kept on them at all times, there was no chance they could lose them. And they could only hack into their own bracelet. They were specially locked to the unique magical signature of the ones wearing it.

"According to the shared schedule, we have Arithimancy and Calculus next."

Avalon didn't separate classes that had similar themes. It was easier to combine them and the homework given to lessen the load.

They also didn't bother offering muggle studies. If you didn't come from a muggle background enough to recognize what a computer was, then odds were you couldn't pass the initial entrance exams in the first place.

So any math-related mundane courses were often added to Arithimancy. Transfiguration and Charms were a combined course. Astrology was an elective, as was Divination and Ancient Runes. English was mandatory, but you could chose which kind of classes you took.

You had a series of choices when it came to science, the arts, even courses where they taught you to repair cars and computers.

It was more than any school like Hogwarts, Beauxbatons or Durmstrang could offer.

And to make it easier, they paired students with similar schedules and genders.

"Thanks for showing me where the library club meets Amy," said Hermione. Her roommate was a very nice girl who was patient...to a point.

"So long as you help me with the theory, we'll call it even," said Amelia.

Hermione was good at theory, Amelia was great at practical. They balanced each other out, and hopefully they could work off each other to succeed.

At least that was what the teacher in charge of pairing the students off hoped. They had someone who was a licensed psychologist that kept their license up to date. She specialized in children for just this reason.

Amelia was in the offshoot of the Library Club, which was the Otaku club that Harry was in.

The Library club went into the deeper part of the library, but the Otaku club stayed in the upper levels with the newer books. In exchange they 'stood guard' so to speak and gave the teachers an idea of where to look when the library club was gone too long. Besides that, the library club tended to help them when it came time to try and replicate spells they found in their manga. It was a win-win!

"How was your day Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Pretty cool. Rory's a pretty laid-back guy," said Harry.

"Hermione Granger?" asked the oldest member.

"That's me," she said.

"I'm Martha Jones. I'm the head explorer of the club. If you have any questions, come see me. Amelia, nice to see you again," said Martha.

Amelia had no roommate her first year because there was an odd number, and she was the only one who could fit with Hermione's personality profile.

"Be warned, Hermione's had trouble leaving a book behind once she's gotten her hands on it, especially if it's a rare and old one," said Harry.

"Good thing we pair them with partners. Granger, we are allowed to check the books out if we find them, provided they're turned in on time. So if a find a book you like, put them in the bag we provide and you can read it on your own time," said Martha.

Hermione looked very pleased when she heard that.

"Have fun Hermione."

Judging by the look on her face, she already was debating some of her first edition books with the other members.

Harry turned to Amelia.

"You have my permission to stun her if you have to in order to get her to sleep. I won't hold it against you," said Harry.

Amelia snickered.

"Okay Otaku members, this week we're delving into the Nasu-verse. There's a new series called '_Fate/Zero'_ that goes into the war before the _Fate/Stay Night_ series, and shows Kiritsugu Emiya before he took in Shiro, the main protagonist of the _Fate/Stay_ series," said the Otaku club leader, a boy named Matt Smith.

Harry grinned. This was his sort of club.

* * *

Severus Snape was about to do one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life. Share the abuse he suffered to a pair of thirteen-year-old Gryffindors.

Frankly he wouldn't have even considered this option, but at this point he literally had no idea how to keep these twins from falling into the same pattern James Potter and his gang of enablers had when he was a student.

He had waited, patiently, for the twins to screw up around him. Pranking a Slytherins potion had been the perfect opportunity to give them both detention.

No one batted an eye at the fact he had given them detention.

The twins swaggered in, and Snape had to remind himself why he was doing this. He had sworn to himself that he would never again allow the same level of bullying he endured happen twice once he became a teacher, but years of frustration had made him forget that fact.

They looked around, clearly expecting to see cauldrons or some other cleaning implement, which was Snape's usual torture. Instead all they saw was a pensieve with memories already inside of it.

"You two have been a thorn in my side for the past two years. I am fully aware that your great ambition is to equal or come close to the Marauder's legacy as pranksters. What you didn't know is that I actually went to school with all four of them."

Fred and George sat up eagerly. Snape knew the Marauders?

"In this pensieve are several memories of their...pranks. I also have a list of people they went to school with who have stories about them. After you've seen these I will give you the list so you can ask about them," said Snape.

The twins, given permission to view the memories and eager to learn more about the Marauders, didn't hesitate to go in.

Snape waited patiently for a hour, and when they came out there was a marked difference in their behavior.

If he had to put a name to it, he would say they looked sick to their stomachs at some of the things James Potter and his gang pulled.

"Not so funny on the other side of the prank, is it?" he said calmly. It helped he had a few shots of strong whiskey to calm his nerves about this.

Fred, at least he assumed it was Fred, looked close to vomiting from what he had seen.

"I can't believe anyone could be that cruel," he said.

"James Potter, who you might know better as 'Prongs', never took it well that I was Lily Evans best friend. He did everything in his power to push us apart until a slip of the tongue caused me to lose the only real friend I ever had growing up. And McGonagall did nothing. She gave him and his four friends detentions, ignored the fact Sirius Black nearly had me turned or worse, killed by one of their friends, and the other teachers barely made a dent in their abhorrent behavior."

He still hated that old cat after he was nearly bitten by Remus because of Black's stunt. And they wondered why he hated James Potter and anything to do with the Marauders.

Snape handed George a piece of parchment two feet long. On it was a list of people in neat script.

"This is a list of other people who were 'pranked' by the Marauders. You can have them confirm the same things you witnessed from my memories of them."

"Why show us those?" asked George. That was what confused him the most.

"I have been a victim of their petty jealously and bullying since I was a student. They drove me into becoming a Death Eater because of a mistake. I don't want to see any more of my students, especially my Snakes, to become another victim of such rampant bullying because you went too far. Ironically it was James' son who recommend I show you that your actions do have consequences. I suggest you take the next few days to think about your pranks before you start targeting other students. You may leave," said Snape.

The twins left the room, this time without the confident swagger they had come in with. If anything it was clear seeing the memories of a victim of the Marauders had given them a reason to look back on their own pranks.

To their credit, they didn't target one student specifically. If someone annoyed them or angered them, then they would do an individual prank. But keeping them from becoming outright bullies was something he would fight to happen.

* * *

McGonagall confronted Snape a week later. She had noticed a distinct change in the twins behavior, and the only thing she could figure out was that it had something to do with Snape and the letters they had been sending out.

She thought he had cursed them or threatened them in some way. Perhaps even potioned them.

"What. Did. You. Do?" she demanded.

"Hello to you too Minerva," said Snape, continuing to grade papers.

"Don't give me that Severus Snape. What did you do to the twins? They've been acting off since they had that detention with you!" said McGonagall, using her best unhappy teacher voice. Snape didn't even flinch.

He paused in his grading and looked her in the eye.

"I showed them the truth you were unwilling to tell them about the Marauders. I gave them the unvarnished memories of James Potter and his gang of bullies and what's it's like to be on the receiving end of the Marauder's 'pranks'. I also gave them a list of names of people they targeted particularly hard and made them think for once in their life about the consequences of humiliating others for their own amusement. And before you become self-righteous, _Minerva_, it was Lily Evans' own son who suggested the idea to keep the twins from becoming yet another pair of bullies this school has produced."

McGonagall stared at him.

"Harry Potter told you to share your memories of the Marauders."

"Harry has experience with bullies and he recommended that showing the twins what happens when you go too far would be a better lesson than any detention I could possibly give them. And a list so they could find out for themselves that I did not exaggerate about James Potter. He was most unimpressed with his father and the things he heard about him," said Snape flatly.

He had long since sent several photos he took in the early morning hours while almost everyone was asleep, from the other professors and the portraits to Harry, who would share them with his aunt when he returned to Privet Drive. He even included Hogsmeade, the all-magical village in his photo spree.

He couldn't really blame Petunia for wanting to at least _see_ the castle.

Snape looked McGonagall in the eye, and after a few moments she began to squirm uncomfortably.

"I made sure to include the memory of Black's attempt to have me either killed or turned, as well as the moment Lily ceased to be my friend because James Potter forced me to the breaking point. I would rather emotionally traumatize a pair of students than allow yet another rampant bully to be created under the _Headmaster's watch_," said Snape, spitting out the last two words like a curse.

Dumbledore held him on a leash, and there was little doubt in the staff's minds that he only kept Severus around to show off one of his 'success' stories in reforming a known Death Eater.

If Snape could remove the accursed tattoo on his arm, he would leave the school and move to another country where Dumbledore had no influence. A marked wizard had limited options, and those choices only got slimmer if the person chasing you was Dumbledore.


	6. Chapter 6

It was flying lesson day. Something all new students eagerly waited for. Two months into every year, the first years (and some second years) would be given flying lessons. They gave the new kids a chance to settle in before they even considered teaching them to fly on broomsticks.

And unlike Hogwarts they held the entire thing indoors, thus negating factors like wind, weather, and in the case of the delighted children, hard surfaces to crash on. The entire thing was done inside a padded room laced with enough cushioning charms to turn it into a bouncy house.

It wasn't that uncommon for students to come to the room just to unwind by literally _bouncing_ off the walls.

So long as there was a teacher present, they could care less if they went in to bounce around for hours. It got their energy out in a healthy way and allowed them to be the children they were.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to Flying 101! Now I'm sure many of you are eager to get off the ground and fly through the air, but first we have to make sure you know what to do. Once you've passed the basic course, we'll install a function on your bracelets to tell you when you're about to run into an airplane or other flying vehicle. We'll also make sure it alerts you to things like the boundaries of the school limits. And before you ask, yes, this entire room is one big magical bouncy castle. Students are allowed in provided it's not after curfew and there is a teacher present," said Ms. Tory.

That got grins from nearly every boy and girl there. Hermione just looked relieved.

She was nervous around heights.

"Now, unlike some schools (she didn't need to vocalize the one they were always comparing themselves too) we don't leave our students with just a few short lessons on flying. We're going to make sure you're confident on a broom, or at least good enough to get around. If not, we'll bring up other options. We're also going to have a lesson on port-keys, floo travel, and around fifth year we'll teach everyone apparition, or teleportation."

She also left out the fact they traded in the school brooms once every ten years, in order to insure they were safe for the children. Hogwarts kept them until they were less useful than mundane brooms. Always citing there wasn't enough money in the budget. It was an accident waiting to happen.

"Now put your dominant hand over the brooms and say with a clear and decisive voice 'Up!'" said Ms. Tory.

The room was filled with the students either shouting or calmly saying "Up!"

For those who had a fear of heights, like Hermione, they stayed put.

"One more time kiddies!"

Some had more success.

"Well since some of you are having trouble getting the brooms to come to your hand, those who still have brooms on the ground, I want you to take five and bounce around over there. Remember, you're perfectly safe if you fall in here, and not everyone learns how to ride a bike on the first try. Training wheels were invented for a reason. If you want to try again before you take a few minutes to calm down, go ahead."

Hermione took a deep breath. Harry was already prepared to fly, but she was one of five who didn't have their broom in hand. The entire place was a bouncy castle with safety charms laced in it. The worst she could get is a broken arm. It was like riding a bike that hovered.

"Up!"

To her shock, the broom went into her hand. It was just nerves?

Three others went to the side area where they wouldn't accidentally cross paths with the brooms. A few minutes of bouncing around, and they tried again. It took them a few minutes but eventually everyone was zooming around.

Ms. Tory was right, it was like riding a bike.

Harry in particular seemed to enjoy it, as did did several aerial stunts none of the other students seemed brave enough to try.

Eventually Ms. Tory blew a whistle, then gave them the rundown on how to land.

"Alright kids, I'm going to put up a list of people who will be cleared next month to fly outside. Everyone else will have to fly supervised until they get the hang of it. It's not that we don't trust you, it's that we want you to be safe," said Ms. Tory, "That being said, once the brooms are put up you're all allowed to come in here and play around. There's a reason why we scheduled this on a free day after all."

Soon everyone was happily bouncing around.

Harry noticed something...off...about the cushions under his feet.

"Is it just me or do these things seem...poofier...than normal?" he asked, testing the cushion.

"It's not you. There's several giant fans behind the cushions, and they're currently rotating slow enough to keep them inflated, but not so fast that the seams will break. Those cleared by the teachers can use this place as a giant wind tunnel to practice flying under extreme wind currents," said Amy.

"Like everything else in Avalon...everything has more than one purpose to maximize space," said Harry. It made sense that this place had a few secrets, since every class, club and room served at least a double function except for the bathrooms and bedrooms. The hall where everyone ate doubled as a study hall in between meal times. The doors were left open so students could walk in at any time to grab a quick snack of a fruit or the odd vegetable. There were even some cheese for protein, along with chilled juices, water and the odd tea or milk.

A well fueled student was a productive student, in the teacher's minds. And it showed in the grades. They had _the_ highest GPA in Europe, and currently occupied the number one spot in the school rankings.

Harry's eyes glinted at the thought of being in a giant wind tunnel, able to fly without wings.

* * *

Dumbledore had a migraine. To put this into perspective, the average headache for magicals lasted only a few minutes, mainly because of the fact the Mediwitch had a large stock of the potion to rid oneself of it. You didn't need to ask why, considering she was the only medical professional within the school full of children.

However today was one of those days where not even the strongest migraine relief potion or spell could dispel the pain.

He blamed the current Minister for this fact.

Fudge had been horrified when he found out the Boy-Who-Lived had refused his invitation to join the prestigious school in favor of one run by muggleborns. One that followed all the current ICW requirements and currently held the top-ranked spot of magical schooling in the UK.

It was a little known fact that Hogwarts was in fact in the tenth-ranked spot, and that was only because of Dumbledore.

When someone sent a letter demanding to know why Harry Potter refused to even consider Hogwarts an option, he sent a curt, but firm one back.

_I have no interest in working for the Ministry, or any of the career paths promoted by Hogwarts. While Curse-breaking and Dragon wrangling sounds interesting, I would much rather keep my options open. Hogwarts has downgraded it's available classes to the point it _barely_ qualifies as one of the top ten._

To add insult to injury, the letter was sent via Ministry owl. And since no one had raised the alarm about the Boy-Who-Lived being that far up in the Ministry offices, it was obvious he had asked a teacher to send it.

Meaning they wouldn't be able to track the boy back by following the owl that sent it.

So yes, Dumbledore fully blamed Fudge for the current migraine he had, or at least the bigger parts. The rest he fully pinned on one Severus Snape for traumatizing the Weasley twins.

Molly had sent the loudest Howler yet the moment Minerva told her about their sudden change of heart. They still pranked but it was no longer as often and they didn't hit any group in particular anymore.

When asked what he had done, Severus point blank told the other teachers that he had merely shown the twins exactly what they were trying to model themselves after. Filius in particular had looked ashamed as he had always thought the Marauders were quite amusing, but then again he had never been a victim of their more humiliating pranks.

Being shown that not all pranks are considered funny, the twins were currently reevaluating their prank line and were trying to figure out what to do now.

Either way, he was just glad there was a respite from their 'pranks'.

Dumbledore glare at his potion master, who looked entirely too smug for the chaos he had stirred up by showing the twins those memories.

Which was why he was going to assign Severus the duty of fixing the mess he created.

* * *

The twins came into his classroom, this time completely without the typical Gryffindor swagger he had come to expect. It seems his memories and realizing the Marauders weren't the perfect Pranksters they had come to idolized had done the job. Now it was time to insure James Potter's legacy never continued. At least not while he was potions master of Hogwarts.

"I see you've taken to heart your last lesson. Now it's time we do a little...restructuring."

"Restructuring?"

"Learning when it's appropriate to prank the living hell out of someone and when it's not. Since you two have finally gotten it into your heads that there is a point when you take a prank too far, I'm willing to cut you two a deal. I'll help you with your pranks so long as you two agree never to use them on me," said Snape.

"What's in it for us?" asked Fred. Snape approved of his Slytherin way of thinking.

"You don't tell your mother who's helping you with your prank potions and I get some peace of mind that you won't come after me again with one of your more disruptive pranks. I also get to insure McGonagall has a few less than pleasant nights patrolling," deadpanned Snape.

He had to listen to that Howler for all of five seconds, and even that was too long for his taste. Molly had one hell of a set of lungs.

"Wait...you'd help us with our potions?" said George.

"Again, I won't have to worry about you targeting me specifically and I get to make McGonagall and Dumbledore's lives hell instead. They knew about the Marauders coming after me specifically and did nothing, claiming it was just a boyhood prank or two. The worst those bastard ever got was a slap on the wrist compared to what they put me through," said Snape flatly. "Coincidentally you might want to take a cold hard look at the way your youngest brother has been treating his yearmates. I've seen him push the Longbottom boy around twice already to get him to do his homework."

The twins shared a look. It was, perhap, a long overdue moment for them to have a...talk...with Ronald.

* * *

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?!"

Hermione had followed the tracking signal on the bracelets to Harry, who for some reason was in the bouncy-room as she privately called it.

Inside was Harry, on a broom. Upside down. Spinning in circles. With massive fans that could cut him into piece above and below going in opposite directions. With the only thing keeping him alive was the fact his legs were hooked onto the broom handle.

Harry opened his eyes, and winced at the furious expression on Hermione's face. And apparently on the lone teacher drawn by her horrified and angry shout.

When the fans died down Harry wisely stayed in the air. Despite learning how to fly Hermione still hated heights and she didn't have her wand on her.

Learning how to cast with only the bracelet wasn't covered for another two years.

"Mr. Potter, mind explaining why you were flying upside down in tornado-like conditions?" asked the teacher calmly, while mentally noting he would be a shoo-in for the advanced outdoor classes with how calm he had been.

"I wanted to see what it would be like to feel weightless by using the wind turbines that were under the cushions that hid them? Ms. Tory said I could so long as I didn't take it off the lowest setting," he said. Why would he bother when at low speed it was just the right amount of current to keep him airborne?

"She did, did she? Wait here a moment," said the teacher. A few moments conversation and a quick confirmation via computer as to who started the fans, and Harry was given a slap on the wrist. He had gotten a teacher's approval and didn't lose any points...though Hermione was still going to let him have it for scaring her so badly.

* * *

"I can't believe you went through the tornado settings upside down! You're going to be a shoo-in for the flying team!" said Amy.

"Flying team?"

"All schools in the UK have a team specifically for flying. Most of them only play Quidditch, but those created and run by first-gens have a team where you can adapt almost any sport to be played on a broom. I heard in America they're actually trying to adapt their version of football for aerial play!" said Rory.

"And the main team teaches all sorts of tricks just for flying. Like the Wronski Feint," said Amy.

Harry heard a faint beep from his schedule.

"Looks like I've got an audition tomorrow with the club captain."

"Harry..." growled Hermione.

"I was perfectly safe and the teachers specifically said there were enough cushioning charms to make the place a bouncy castle _before_ they added the mats covering the fans. Ms. Tory had it on the same setting the flying team uses to train under severe weather, meaning I was under no genuine danger."

"If he were, they would have removed a butt-load of points," chirped Amy.

"I still can't believe you were flying upside down between two fans that could have cut you to pieces!" said Hermione.

"Right. Rory, hand me that potion you were working on this morning. The one that woke me up from the smell," said Harry.

Rory dutifully handed it over. From what he could tell Hermione needed this.

"Amelia, Rory, grab her while I pour this down her throat. Otherwise she'll never let it go for days," said Harry. He spoke from experience.

The two made sure Hermione couldn't go anywhere while Harry held the potion's vial in one hand. She shut her mouth, but Harry pinched her nose until she opened it. Once she swallowed she glared at him until it took effect.

"You can let go now."

"What the bloody hell did you just give me you prat?" she asked, though her voice was far too mellow for her to be truly angry.

"Magical equivalent of happy pills. Rory was brewing some Calming Draught for his next test so he wouldn't have a panic attack."

In short he had just given her the potion equivalent of a chill pill. Hermione would have great difficulty getting into her usual bossy self if she was dosed with something that put her into a mellow state. And since it did nothing to her cognitive abilities, there was very little she had to complain about.

It was actually one of the few potions acceptable to drink during exams.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the dreams again. Every night it was something else, but they always featured the same man.

The Doctor.

Always the Doctor, always the mad man in a blue box.

He was a good man yes, but there were times when his methods or his thinking left much to be desired. Case in point, the Time War and the moment when he blew both Time Lords and Daleks into oblivion.

At least that's what he believed anyway.

But he was not the Doctor. His mind didn't block out the true events because by and large he was never a part of them and couldn't exactly worry about a paradox. He knew the truth.

Gallifrey lived. In another realm, another universe, Gallifrey lived.

Which was why he had found the planet and the technology still there. He was the only one who could access across space and time and alternate realms to touch it.

It was where he found the watch that could change his fate, and give him everything the Donna Noble had unknowingly locked when she gave up half her DNA to bring life to a cut off hand that the Doctor had poured his excess regenerative energies into.

It was what nearly drove him into the same madness that the Master suffered from.

He was the Doctor's double...but he would never be the Doctor. Even if he were to kill the man and take his place, he would be nothing more than a copy. A fake.

Humanity could be so insightful at times.

Case in point: a simple therapist, not even a very good one, came up with an ingenious way to cope with the fact he was a clone of the original.

Forget the fact he was a clone at all and change his name. If he could not be the Doctor, then he would have to discard the name of the original and come up with his own.

He would have the memories, but the life he lived wouldn't be a pale imitation of the Doctor. It would be his and his alone.

Many Time Lords took on a name that would embody who they were. _He_ called himself the Doctor after a promise.

Which begged the question...what should he call himself?

* * *

Harry sat up with a gasp. It was those dreams again.

It always made him ask the same question.

_What's my name?_

You couldn't have a proper adventure across space and time without having a name for people to call you by.

"Nightmares again?" yawned Rory.

"Not sure if they're nightmares or memories. Either way they make it dreadfully hard to sleep," said Harry with an even bigger yawn.

Better than the nightmares of the green flash and the screams at any rate. He suspected it was the death of his parents, but there were some things an eleven-year-old should never confirm.

Harry eyed the sleep station.

Avalon allowed for students to skip a class provided they checked in to a sleep station which was basically a string of hammocks under a shade at just the right temperature to put someone to sleep. For those who had trouble sleeping at night, particularly during exams, they were the perfect place to catch a few Z's for an hour or two. They even came equipped with a 'dream-free' ward which prevented nightmares.

Harry had a stroke of genius. He looked up his point tally (which was pretty high) and then looked up how much casting the dream-ward spell over his bed would cost.

It was relatively low, because the teachers would rather encourage the students sleep in their _own_ bed and not the sleep stations.

Harry considered whether or not to use his upgrade points, but he was getting tired of whatever was plaguing his precious sleep time. He purchased it...and did some long overdue upgrades on his avatar.

By the time curfew came around, the new ward was around his bed and he put his watches in the bedstand as usual. That night, no nightmares...memories...whatever it was.

* * *

Harry was eager. There was a reason why they were given Avatars, and it wasn't just to give the kids a reason to keep their grades up.

It was time for the Avatar Games. Once every two months the student body would enter into a competition where they battled each other's avatar until only a few remained standing. Those who survived to the top ten got a whooping ten thousand points to spend. The number one spot got twenty thousand.

For those who didn't like fighting, there was a competition for the most impressive avatar. You could earn points that way too.

Hermione was going that route, while Harry went the fighting route.

Thanks to Harry and Amelia, Hermione already had the basic general look of Reinforce Zwei. She still wasn't as big a fan of manga or anime as they were though.

Harry's avatar, on the other hand, looked almost identical to Archer EMIYA, except the coloring was a bit different.

Harry was going to call him Knight EMIYA. Or maybe King EMIYA.

"Welcome everyone to the monthly Avatar Games! Each student will either compete to show off their battling skills, or show off who has the best avatar! The prizes can help you win next the next games, but as always remember to keep your grades up and your nose clean! Here at Avalon we have a great list of prizes for our competitors! And to explain the prize list, our beloved leader of the sports and outdoor classes... MS. TORY!"

Ms. Tory took the stage.

"Thank you for that fun introduction Tess. For all you new students, here's the list of prizes. You get one of three free upgrades just for entering, and they change each month. You opt to pass on this month's set and save it for next month, but you can only have two passes. If you do that then you can get all three upgrades for that month. For those who get into the top twenty, you get five hundred points. For the top ten, ten thousand points. The top student or battler will receive a whooping twenty thousand points. For those who aren't interested in fighting, the competition to show off your creativity and avatar making skills is right after the battles. The prizes are as follows: for entering, one free upgrade from the same list as the fighters. Top twenty get a pick from the 'special' store at half off. Top ten get ten thousand points...and for the number one avatar as voted by the students will get ten thousand points _plus_ an exclusive item! Please note the exclusive item changes each year, so if you don't win this go around, you have another shot!"

Ms. Tory took a drink of water, before continuing.

"Now, for the rules of the tournament. In order to win you have to defeat as many opponents as possible. There are three rounds, and once you've beaten one opponent you can't challenge them until the next time the Games are held. The scoreboard above me will keep a win-loss ratio, and those with the highest percentage of wins will move on to the next round. Here at Avalon we encourage our students to exercise, so you'll have to find your opponents in our holographic tower in order to fight them. Teaming up is acceptable, but please remember to register who's on your team for a collective score before entering the tower!"

Harry looked at Amelia and Rory, who were in the battle competition.

"Sign up as a team and take everyone else out?"

"Hell yes!" said Amy. Harry was part of the Hacker club, and statistically they tended to do better during the games than most.

"Rory, you're our healer. Amy, you're the spy and I'll be the one doing all the heavy damage."

"Gotcha," said Amy. She was an excellent actress, as was her avatar. Rory had a healer for his, but his skills did need upgrading.

"Mind sharing a few of your points so I can increase my avatar's healing rate?" asked Rory.

"How many you need?" asked Harry. He had a large stockpile always in reserve just in case.

Rory checked his bracelet before replying "About five thousand or so."

Harry transferred five thousand. He knew Rory could pay him back later. Or at the very least he would owe him a favor. Rory spent the next five minutes upgrading his Roman Centurion. He split them between his healing abilities, because despite what it looked like he was a healer at heart. It could deal damage, but only in extreme emergencies.

Those that heal often know the best way to take down their opponent. You don't piss off the people who fix you up to begin with. Not if you don't have a death wish at any rate.

The trio walked up to the area where teams could be signed up. Harry was designated leader of the group...which meant if they made it into the final round where the round-robin tournament was set up, he would be their fighter. If he got into the top ten, they all did...especially since it would be up to Rory to keep him alive during the round-robin.

* * *

Harry stared at his opponent. He, Rory and Amy had managed to secure a spot in the round robin tournament thanks to some strategic planning. Well that and all of Harry's extracurricular activities.

In between the Flying club, the Otaku club, the Hacker's club and oddly enough, the Dance club, he had a lot of extra points. Members of the Hacker club could 'overclock' their avatar's stats for five minutes. The problem? Overclocking an avatar took off a ton of points. It was mostly considered a last resort. And you didn't get the points back when it was over.

Rory was using plenty of his trying to keep Harry alive while his older, more experienced opponent tried to kill his avatar.

At this point it was a matter of who would tired first...Rory and Harry, or the fifth year?

Finally Harry did the only thing he could think of.

He set the Archer program loose on the man. Odds were EMIYA would know how to fight better than he could, and the reactions would be faster to boot.

The Otaku club, when they learned of his programming talent, immediately enlisted his aid in a long-held project of theirs.

Recreating the Servant system, including their stats and fighting skills. Considering Harry's avatar _was_ a Servant, they started on Archer EMIYA first.

An odd light came into his Avatar's eyes. In an instant, the tone of the battle changed. His moves became more fluid, the strikes more solid. But it was the fighting style that changed the most.

Where Harry had been fighting to end it quickly, EMIYA fought like he had nothing to lose. He left vital spots open, only to suddenly turn the tables on his opponent by taking advantage of the 'opening'.

In short order, his opponent was turned into pixels.

However it was what happened next that very nearly gave Harry a heart attack and gave the Otaku club something to gush over for years to come.

Knight EMIYA turned to face Harry, and immediately said _"Oh now what has that damn vampire done?!"_

Harry's jaw dropped, before his mind quickly caught up to him. He face-palmed.

"Zelretch?" he asked.

"_Zelretch."_

Of course the Master of the Kaleidoscope and known troll would find it hilarious to attach Archer to Harry and turn him into a digital rendering. He probably caught the tail-end of Harry programming Archer's data in and thought it would be funny to make it so Archer ended up in the bracelet similar to the way Servants were summoned.

"Harry?" asked Amelia. Archer looked far more detailed than she remembered, and upgrades were locked if you were still part of the tournament. He even had his twin swords!

"Zelretch must have noticed our work recreating the Servants as our avatars, so he stuck Archer in mine," said Harry.

"Oh. OH. You do realize the others are going to have a field day with him being here right?" said Amelia.

"At least he has a fan base," said Harry.

* * *

Harry and his team didn't make the number one spot. Rory was down to the last points on his bracelet and couldn't keep healing Archer, so Harry forfeited his match. He was, however, still in the top ten, which was pretty good for his first time.

However it was Archer who took center stage. Hermione was disbelieving until she got the full brunt of his sarcastic personality.

No way would Harry make a personality that sarcastic and grumpy, not with how laid back he was.

"Explain. Now."

"Do me a favor and look up the name Zelretch, _Fate/Stay Night,_" said Harry.

Hermione took out her pocket laptop, one of the first things she bought with her points.

She found a picture of a man with white hair, red eyes, and fangs.

"Read his bio."

"What exactly is a 'troll'?"

"Someone who takes generally goes out of their way to mess with others, or otherwise makes their lives more difficult. Like say a principal who uses their position to make up bizarre rules just to make their students jump through them for no other reason than for a quick laugh."

"_Sounds about right."_

"Does he still qualify as an avatar though?" asked Hermione.

"One way to find out," said Harry. He hadn't used any of his points since the tournament.

He went through his upgrade list and held out his laptop for Archer to look through.

"See anything you want?"

Archer raised an eyebrow, before he used his power to move the mouse. He found three upgrades that had his attention. He clicked on them and the effect was immediate.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Harry looked at the upgrades.

"Defense level ten, Speed level thirteen, and... Astralize level two?"

"_If I'm going to be stuck here I want to stick with the familiar,"_ said EMIYA.

"...Uh-huh. You do realize that you won't be able to physically effect the world outside the school for another four years right? And there are sensors to keep students from using their avatars to spy on others," said Harry. Archer blinked.

"_...This is a school?"_

"Welcome to Avalon, one of the top magical schools in Europe. They mix magic with technology, and every student and teacher has one of these, along with an avatar they can customize. By fifth year they give you the option to make a second one. Fifth years can also buy an upgrade that gives limited ability for their avatars to interact outside the school itself. Oddly enough we have the second highest class size in the UK, trumping Hogwarts."

"_...Where in the Root did they come up with such a strange idea?"_

"Every heard of a series called '_Baka and Test'_?"

"_Never really watched TV outside of the news."_

"Well in the series there is a school where you get avatars that you can summon, and your grades determined the power level of your avatar. The teacher in charge of the Otaku club and the Library club suggested it as a way to bring the grade point average up. It was a major hit, and when they added the upgrades and the ability to purchase new tech after a certain period of time... well, the school rose rather quickly in the rankings within two years until it held the number one spot. It's held it for the past ten years or so," said Amelia.

Archer stared. It did sound like an effective system of keeping the students geared towards keeping their grades up and their noses clean.

"_And the battles where I was accidentally summoned?"_

"You have a better way to keep the students out of trouble? Gives them something interesting to do with their avatars insures they won't risk detention and gives them something to work towards. Easier than having to grade countless papers and tallying them up every year," said Harry shrugging.

Determining the top student position via a series of battles instead of grades. Less hassle and headache.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the talk of the school. One of the Avatars had developed something close to an AI, but wasn't. Even with magic, it was a little farfetched to believe.

However, the fact remained.

Harry Potter's avatar had become alive, either by accident or outside interference. The Otaku club loved it.

Archer was wondering if this was what it felt to be a specimen under a microscope. The entire Otaku club had heard what happened from Amelia, and they clamored to meet him.

The worst part was Harry wasn't there to let him astralize like a proper servant...he was outside flying with his team. Which meant he was stuck with a bunch of rabid mages who wanted nothing more than to hear about his story from his point of view. It was rather unnerving.

Still...this was actually rather tame for one of Zelretch's pranks. And since he no longer needed to model the avatar after Archer like he had been doing, he was essentially giving EMIYA first pick on any upgrades he wanted done, provided he wasn't using the points for something else first.

He was far more reasonable than any of his other 'Masters' had been.

* * *

"_Okay, I give up. What exactly is this?"_ asked Archer.

"Live Action Role Play. The Otaku club and the Library club commandeer the main hall to recreate one fantasy novel or series, and the students not involved with either club can come in to watch like it's a movie. The teachers provide snacks and drinks, primarily because it's a good way for us to practice magic and acting without doing anything distructive."

"_Okay, I can understand that, but I'm more interested in why you're wearing such intricate chain mail."_

"We're doing _Lord of the Rings_ this semester," came Harry's immediate reply.

Because it would take too long to do the entire thing, the 'play' was broken down into manageable segments. The students would be able to view 'previous' segments two days after. It would take a few hours to collect enough memories to give a 'general' viewing of the play instead of a personal one.

Archer blinked, before he tentatively asked _"Any chance I could play the undead king from book three?"_

"Considering they roped me into playing Aragorn I don't see why not. Come to think of it, since avatars can turn see through it would neatly solve the issue of who plays the undead forces that Aragorn leads into battle to regain their honor."

Harry went to discuss it with his fellow 'LARP' members, and they agreed it was an excellent idea. Made it easier to distinguish the living and the dead.

Case in point, Archer ended up roped into playing the Witch King of Angmar since he was used to swords already and didn't mind being one of the Nazgûl. To be honest _Lord of the Rings_ was one of the few fantasy novels he had ever bothered to read.

Probably because of the swords.

"Remind me once the play is over to give you all the swords from the books," said Harry. Archer perked up at that idea. The idea of wielding Aragorn's sword was definitely something that appealed to him both as a swordsman and a blacksmith. He could appreciate a finely made blade like that.

Archer had to admit, he rather enjoyed acting. Sure it was annoying to play the Witch King, but it was still very fun. Halfway through the books, Harry managed to even upload Sting into his programming.

He wondered if he could ever get Zelretch to drop him in the actual Middle Earth, before he dismissed it. Nothing was worth the headache of going along with one of that damn bloodsucker's schemes, no matter _how_ much he wanted to have a copy of the swords they had there.

They called it quits roughly after they reached Moria. The next part would be the mines and the 'death' of Gandalf the Grey.

"Someone was having fun," said Harry grinning.

"_It's one of the few books I remembered reading,"_ commented EMIYA.

"Well look at the bright side... at least you'll never be bored while I'm in the Otaku meetings. They have plenty of books for you to read," said Harry with false cheer.

"_Give me a smithy or a battle any day,"_ said Archer.

"...Give me a minute to look up where it is, if there is any."

Sadly, there were no smithies in the Academy, and there wasn't likely to be a battle for another month. Fortunately there were ways around that.

It wasn't the first time an avatar had come to life, and it wouldn't be the last.

It was only to be expected with all the ambient magic in the area.

Archer gladly went to the mock-battle arenas whenever Harry was in class...it allowed him to hone his skills, earn upgrade points (Harry gave him first say in all upgrades made to _his_ program) and helped to kill time.

* * *

"_What exactly is this 'deep web' and why do you need lessons on it?"_ asked Archer.

"Do you know what the surface web is?" asked Harry.

"_I barely know how to use the internet,"_ said Archer flatly. Harry gave him an odd look.

"Okay...so I'm going to have to teach you how to use computers beyond upgrades apparently... the gist of it is that the 'surface' web is the one everyone and their grandmother is familiar with. Basically what everyone uses if they have a computer with internet access. The 'deep' web, however, is something that generally only hackers or those with any real skill with code can use. Sensitive information is often stored there, as are games that haven't been released yet still in testing faze, and a lot of programming that hackers can share their skills."

"_Uh-huh. You do realize most of that went over my head."_

"Which is why I'm going to leave you with a few of the newer TV shows like _Scorpion_ and _CSI: Cyber_. It'll at least give you the gist."

"_At least I won't be bored later..."_ said Archer.

"The Hacker club is Avalon's attempts to at least teach us how to use our skills at technology for good, rather than turn evil. Which means we have lessons on how to access and use the deep web, where most hackers like to spend time, if only to brag."

"Speaking of technology far beyond our reach, I heard they're going to restart the old _Doctor Who_ series soon," said Clara.

If he hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have noticed the way Harry suddenly sat up as if tasered. Archer waited until his club was over before they were alone before he asked _"What is it about this 'Doctor Who' show that had you react like _that_?"_

"I don't know. But...before I had a dream ward set up around my bed, I kept having these...visions, I suppose you could call it. And they always seem to center around either someone calling himself the '_Doctor'_ or a nameless person who was drowning in a sea of memories not his own," said Harry.

"_Any idea what caused them?"_

"I have one, but I keep getting the impression that it's not time. That I need something else before I can find out why I have these visions, but it can't be rushed," admitted Harry.

"_...Perhaps I can help. This is easily one of the more bearable pranks by that damn vampire, and to be quite honest I get bored rather easily,"_ said Archer.

Going through memories sounded a damn sight more interesting than doing nothing all day.

* * *

Archer definitely underestimated the sheer amount of memories the 'watch' had. Which apparently was not a watch, but was the source of the odd dreams Harry had been having. It emitted a low telepathic field that certain people could pick up on. Particularly Harry, since the watch seemed to localize on him to the point it literally boosted his intelligence a bit.

Not enough to make it noticeable, but enough that having it quite literally gave him an eidetic memory. The only downside was that wearing it made the 'processing speed' and the 'fans' as Harry referred to it, to slow down to worrying levels.

Archer could get why he referred to his head as a computer, but that didn't mean he could understand half the references.

The teachers would allow him to have the watch on his down time, like in clubs that didn't cause his brain to 'short circuit'.

From what little Archer was able to gleam (apparently he was either receptive to the telepathic field, or his connection to Harry allowed him to view it) Harry was right in that he wouldn't be able to handle whoever had left their memories in the watch. Nearly a thousand years of memories (a hundred of which were someone else's) in an eleven-year-old's body was almost begging to short out the boy's brain.

On the plus side, Archer was no longer bored out of his wits.

* * *

Hermione had a dilemma. She kept finding books stating very clearly that magic and electric devices _did not mix_. Harry, curious as to why their bracelets, which were clearly a mixture of technology and magic (with the magic supplementing the parts technology hadn't quite caught up to yet), worked.

Clara chuckled.

"It's because the bracelets don't _run_ on electricity, or at least not in the normal sense. Think about it, do you really believe these things could run on solar power or conventional batteries with how many features they have? More importantly, do you see a plug-in for the charger?"

Hermione shook her head.

Harry, however had an inkling as to what really ran the power.

"Biometrics, with a lock specifically designed to match your core?" he asked.

Clara nodded.

"These bracelets run on the same minute amount of electricity the body naturally produces, and when you're using it to cast spells it uses your core much like a wand would. It's an added safety feature, so in the event the Ministry tries to 'snap your wand', they can't reverse engineer them or use them. As an added bonus, the Ministry only tracks wand magic, so you can use it outside of the school provided that those already 'in the know' are the only ones watching."

"Meaning those you live with or have been exposed previously," translated Harry.

Clara nodded.

"Want to know the real reason you can't summon your avatars outside the school?"

"Why?"

"Because the school is picking up the required amount of energy to bring them out. If a student tried outside the wards, it would cause them to pass out or worse, attract the Ministry. The amount of electricity needed to 'summon' your avatar outside is enormous, and most can't do it until they graduate. It's also why you're only allowed one until fifth year. By that time your body is generating enough power to handle a second one, though it won't be as strong as the first. Just as a safety precaution, the teachers take you outside the wards and let you attempt to summon it once. Most generally take the hint and don't bother until they're older after that."

"But what about Harry's avatar?" asked Hermione. It still bugged her that Archer was in a sense, alive. It felt like servitude to her.

"With this much magic around, and enough love and care, sometimes they do spring to life. Not this early though. Besides, it's no worse than us using house elves to keep this place spotless."

"House elves?" asked Harry, feeling an inexplicable sense of dread coming to him.

"At some point a large group of brownie spirits were banished from the Faerie realms. No one is exactly certain _why_, only that they were so desperate they came to the wizards and offered to serve them in exchange for siphoning off enough magic to live. After a few centuries they found a way to...well...procreate, and because their magic had changed the first house elves were born. In exchange for acting as well, maids and butlers, they get enough magic to thrive and do small acts of magic on their own. Unfortunately some of the more inbred idiots tend to abuse the system, and treat them as little more than slaves. Most don't even notice they exist and take them for granted," said Clara.

Hermione was horrified. Harry felt that sense of dread only grow worse, and suddenly had an inkling as to _why_ he was getting it. He eyed his 'sister' warily.

"That's horrible!"

"It's a flawed system that we're currently stuck with. And if you try to fix it, not only will you find yourself with a lot of people angry with you, but the spirits you're trying to help won't thank you for it. About the only way I can see it being resolved is to get the faerie courts involved, and no sane person would go to them just to see if they could allow the house elves to go home."

Harry winced. The Faeries were notorious even by mundane tales for the fact they loved screwing people over just because they could. Then he had an idea that would pacify Hermione and keep her from going off the deep end.

"Are there any laws about house elf treatment?" he asked. In the mundane world, back when slavery _was_ legal, there had been a few laws about their conditions. Most were ignored, but the general gist of it was that there was some attempts to keep them safe.

"If there were, they're completely ignored or forgotten."

Harry turned to Hermione, who had righteous indignation in her eyes.

"Sis, if you want to spend your time helping house elves by making laws about their treatment, I will help you. But if you try to 'liberate' them from the current status quot, you're on your own," said Harry flatly.

Hermione had a look of betrayal on her face.

"Why!?"

"Because if you try to liberate them, not only will you have made a number of enemies out for your blood, but the house elves won't thank you for it and might resent you almost as much as the wizards. It's not perfect, but it's all they know. Besides, aren't brownies usually paid with food anyway? From the sounds of it, it seems they've simply replaced the payment of food and beverage to magic," said Harry flatly.

Hermione's indignation turned to thoughtfulness.

"And look at it this way...if you became a barrister you could use your bossiness for the good of others and have them _pay_ you for it," added Harry cheerfully, as he ducked the hand Hermione had tried to hit him with.


	9. Chapter 9

Archer went to the teachers. They knew he had been using his link to Harry to view the memories without letting any slip to his partner/Master.

"_I believe I know what's going on, and why Harry was able to claim that vault."_

"Report," said Ms. Tory. She was fond of Harry, any of them who had him in class were. They were worried about the fact he felt it necessary to erect a dream ward around his bed to get any sleep.

"_First off, the majority of the memories don't belong to the actual owner of the watch. He is apparently some form of clone that got tired of wearing the original's face and decided that since he couldn't find any _mundane_ method of doing something about it, he would try his luck with magic. From what I can tell he went to the goblins about a year ago after using an experimental artifact that was considered an 'improved time turner' came to about roughly a year before Harry was born, then set everything up in the hopes his 'new' body would be able to receive all the abilities that had been locked because of his human DNA,"_ said Archer.

"Oh good lord...he used one of those old rituals to reincarnate himself didn't he?" said Ms. Jenny.

"_Apparently but he did show something most magicals are severely lacking. One of the additives he put into the ritual was a defense against the Unforgiveable curses. Apparently one of those was that in the event he was hit with the killing curse, the other 'heart' in his chest would automatically restart."_

Ms. Tory groaned.

"Don't tell me...he's a Time Lord,"she said. Suddenly a lot of it made sense.

Harry's intelligence, his mellow personality...the fact he had a hard time doing larger computations without his brain feeling like it was overheating... it was so used to doing things at a higher level that his human half was having trouble compensating.

"_I have no idea what that is, but apparently he got most of his technology that he stashed in Gringotts from some planet called Gallifrey."_

Ms. Tory started to bang her head.

"A misplaced Time Lord. That explains far too much, like his ability to hack on the first try. Do you have any idea what abilities were locked?"

"_The first that was unlocked was the two hearts. Apparently one Sirius Black thought he was unable to breath and accidentally restarted the one that had been shut down by the curse. The addition to the ritual will unlock all three of the traits he had lost if he's hit by the Unforgiveable curses. Imperio will create a shield around his mind, the Cruciatus will return it back into a supercomputer of sorts. The general hope is that if most of his abilities as a Time Lord were unlocked, that would somehow unblock his ability to, and I'm quoting him on this, 'regenerate'."_

"Well that explains why he had to reincarnate himself. A Time Lord who can't regenerate is no better than a phoenix that can't burst into flames and be reborn," said Ms. Jenny.

"So we have a rogue Time Lord on our hands. Has he come up with a name?"

"_Well according to the memories, he is the clone of someone called the 'Doctor'. He got tired of being compared to the man, hence why he went back in time through magic in hopes of changing his face."_

As one, every teacher there winced.

"Bloody hell. That only makes things _worse_!" said Ms. Tory.

"_Why?"_

"The Doctor, according to the series, is a blooming trouble magnet! Whenever 'e shows up, disaster follows! He's the Oncoming Storm, a force that brings some form of disaster every bloody Christmas!"

"_...Every Christmas?"_ said Archer.

"Every. Single. Christmas. If 'e shows up on Earth, something is about to 'appen. Especially on Christmas," said Professor Danny.

"_How bad?"_

"Alien races trying to either kill, enslave, or otherwise inconvenience the human race in an unpleasant manner. Daleks, Cybermen, Arachnos, Weeping Angels... if there's an alien race who hates human...or the Doctor... they'll show up at least _once_ on Christmas if he's here. As I recall, one year most of the English left London on Christmas, not wanting to be caught up in it," said Ms. Jenny.

"_I thought this _Doctor Who_ is a TV show?"_ asked Archer.

"TV show my arse! It's an alternate Earth. Some Seer from Scotland happened to come across a vision of it, and ever since they've been making a television show about it," said Ms. Tory.

"Ever since she died, 'er apprentice has taken it up, hence why the show has been brought back," said Danny.

"_So what does this mean for Harry?"_

"It means nothing. Until he's old enough to handle that sort of influx of memories, or the conditions are met by the ritual to awaken such ability, he is still the same student. It just means we get to honestly say we taught a Time Lord with human DNA magic," said Ms. Tory firmly.

* * *

"Please tell me this is an elaborate joke and that my brother is not a misplaced Time Lord who deliberately sealed his own memories," said Hermione, pinching the bridge of her nose.

It wasn't that she didn't believe them, but there were some days it stretched what Harry collectively called the 'Bullshit-Meter', well out of hearing of any adults.

"Apparently whoever you were before didn't like the fact they were more human than Time Lord, so they decided to correct it the only way they could think of. They sealed their memories, used an ancient, if rarely used, ritual with the goblins help, then set it up so that you could gradually regain the powers that had been locked. They even made it so only their reincarnation could get into the vault itself," explained Ms. Tory.

"So what does this mean?"

"Nothing, except the teachers get bragging rights once you graduate and hopefully come back into your full powers," said Ms. Jenny firmly.

They had called in Harry to explain what was going on, why, and what it would mean. Hermione tagged along because she was the closest thing to a family to him, and her parents were registered as his 'guardians', despite what the Ministry had.

On the plus side, Petunia could petition to see Avalon Academy and they wouldn't deny her outright.

Harry was going to visit her on Christmas and they would be brought to the school so she could at least see _one_ magical institution for herself. It had always been a childhood dream of hers, and while Hogwarts wasn't possible, this was a good close second.

"So what exactly is required for him to become a full Time Lord again?"

"Essentially he is like a phoenix who lost his ability to burst into flames and be reborn from the ashes. Instead of dying like a human, he chose to do something about it. Right now the only thing he's gotten back from whatever locked his full potential away is having two hearts instead of one. Believe me, the doctor was beyond baffled about it until we found out it was a natural genetic trait rather than some strange abnormality," said Ms. Tory.

"It also means you _might_ be able to manifest your avatar off school grounds, but it will be little more than a ghost if that," said Ms. Jenny.

"So basically he'll still be astralized, but he'll be able to interact at least as much as a volatile ghost?" clarified Harry.

"_In short it's roughly the same amount of interaction I would have as a Servant, only this time I'm not tied to Command Seals, but to the bracelet you're wearing,"_ said Archer. That was the basic gist of what they had told him. Apparently having two hearts working together provided more bio-electric energy...more than enough for him to look and act like a rather sarcastic ghost.

Or in his terms, as a Servant with an odd Command Seal. Harry could still order him about, but it meant Archer couldn't get more than fifty feet away form him at any time. That was the limit of the bracelet's power.

Vernon would have a very...uncomfortable... few weeks the next time Harry was stuck living in Privet Drive.

Petunia had worked out an arrangement to give Harry the second bedroom. In exchange he kept his mouth shut about magic and didn't mention a word about the magical aspects of Avalon Academy.

Thanks to the fact it didn't have a bunch of moving portraits and outdated conditions, she could show off the pictures Harry took of the place.

And Petunia could honestly boast her nephew was smarter than all the other neighborhood children combined...while Dudley was absolutely the strongest boy in comparison.

Harry made the small suggestion that they get Dudley hooked on a violent sport such as wrestling or boxing, if only to help him loose weight for once in his life. Vernon evidently agreed, because he signed the slip as soon as the teachers sent it.

"So what exactly needs to happen for his abilities to be unlocked properly?" asked Hermione.

"In short he would need to be controlled and tortured, and not necessarily in that order," said Ms. Tory unhappily, though she could see the reason _why_ he had set it up that way.

At the time there was still a war going on. Having that sort of defense from those spells was a blessing, not a curse. Especially the way he insured he lived through the killing curse, but no one could have expected an infant to be born with two hearts like that.

Hermione was horrified, and Harry...he was his usual mellow self.

Archer sometimes wondered if this was his base personality or if he was being dosed with some form of chill pill. No one could be that calm.

"Naturally there is no point in exposing someone so needlessly just for a few abilities. If, at some point during your schooling you wish to expose yourself to what are commonly called the 'Unforgiveable' curses, then we will try to arrange something. But until then we are going to ignore that particular tidbit. Just because you are a potential Time Lord does not make you any different from your roommate or classmates," said Ms. Jenny firmly.

"Of course not. If I had any interest in being fawned over like some prized bull I would have gone to Hogwarts where people would likely treat me like the second coming of bloody Merlin," said Harry, snorting derisively.

He had seen the "Harry Potter" books, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that they were likely the preferred bedtime stories of other children, particularly pure bloods.

If he had any love for fame and glory, he would have gone to Hogwarts. In Avalon he was just another student, and he liked it that way.

* * *

McGonagall was in her own personal hell. She just _knew _it.

First she thought Severus had done something to the twins... and now...now she was fully aware that they were conspiring against her and several other teachers to make their lives hell.

The ones hit the hardest were herself and Dumbledore, for some odd reason.

The worst part, the absolutely _worst_ part was that Severus was providing them the ability to make up air-tight alibi's, which meant they couldn't put them into detention! They just kept quoting the rule book right back at her, forcing her to look up one various rule after another that had been forgotten.

If she didn't know any better, she would swear he had provided them with a time turner and some poly juice.

(In reality he began to mentor them in potions and show them how to create 'doppelgangers' using their magic. It was a trick he had learned as a student to provide an alibi whenever he hit the Marauders back, not that it did any good.)

To be blunt, she was furious and confused. Why was Severus of all people training the next Marauders?

* * *

Fred and George had known their third year would be interesting. They had no idea how life changing it would become.

First was the detention with Snape. Finding out he had been in the same school year as _the_ Marauders had been a real shock...the fact he had willingly _shared_ those memories more so.

That's when it all spiraled downwards.

The Marauders couldn't claim the title of 'pranksters'. Bullies was more like it. Some of the 'pranks' they witness...it made the twins sick to their stomachs. Their mother would have disowned them if they had done even _half_ of what James Potter and Sirius Black pulled.

Being disillusioned about their idols had been a hard blow to take.

And to make their already strange year even more surreal, Snape offered to make them his part-time apprentices in exchange for running their pranks by him first.

He didn't dissuade them of their dream of owning a prank shop, but he did caution them about what they made. After seeing what he suffered at the hands of those four, they didn't ask why.

To be honest, they still didn't understand why Snape had done all this.

* * *

Severus Snape was having an odd year, though to be fair it was his fault for following on the suggestion of the son of his best friend.

It had become impossible for him to equate Harry with his father. Absolutely impossible. Lily on the other hand... it was so easy for him to see his former best friend in her son.

Thanks to Harry's suggestion, he no longer had to worry about the second coming of his childhood tormentors. If anything the twins were more likely to shun the Marauder's legacy than touch it with a ten foot staff.

Be a nasty surprise if they ever meet Lupin.


	10. Chapter 10

Petunia Dursley was many things. But quite a few of them were thrown out the window when, a few days before Christmas, Harry got approval to bring her to his magic school so she could see if for herself, in her own eyes.

It wasn't Hogwarts, but in her mind it was better than Hogwarts.

At least here she wasn't rejected outright simply because she lacked their gift. In fact, most of Harry's teachers, coaches and those who got to know him quite well gladly showed her around and answered all her questions, even demonstrating a few magic tricks like the animagi transformation, or Harry's skill on a broom.

Petunia, much to Harry's surprise, had nearly the same reaction Hermione did seeing him fly upside down in what was a simulated tornado. Though she took it a step further and pinched his ear something awful.

He was still rubbing it to increase the circulation he had.

Much to his horror, Hermione had been there and had a vindicated look on her face.

Harry's next comment had Archer laughing...at him!

"Dear magic, they're starting to gang up on me!"

"_Prepare to suffer the fate of all men who are stuck with more female friends than male."_

"Coming from the guy who could have had a multi-girl harem, one of which was a Tsundere with a habit of blasting people with a sickness curse and the other was a swordswoman who could pass for a guy, you have no room to talk," said Harry flatly. Archer did something very out of character for him...he stuck his tongue out. Being around Harry actually made him a bit more childish, not that he minded.

It was nice to actually feel...human...again.

Though Vernon and Dudley definitely weren't appreciating his presence. Apparently having two hearts working together along with Harry's natural Time Lord DNA put him on the level of a particularly irritating poltergeist. Petunia was rather glad she had started to get over her jealousy at her sister to avoid a similar fate.

* * *

Harry's Christmas was actually much better than the last few ones he had. For one thing, now that they _knew_ why he was so intelligent, yet so laid back. For another, his aunt (and for the first time in his life he could legitimately equate Petunia to the word 'aunt', seeing as how it had always been Dudley and Vernon who were the worst instigators) was finally treating him like she should have years ago.

Apparently most of her abhorrent behavior was due to the fact she was jealous of Lily, afraid of magic and what it could do, and most importantly, her husband Vernon.

Vernon Dursley was not a good man, and he viewed anything that didn't fit his definition of 'normal' as freakish and to be avoided. This included anything to a slightly off skin tone to being from a country other than Britain or having a different religion.

Harry honestly thought Petunia could do better. With a few permanent potions, some decent make up and clothes that weren't outdated she could easily find a less embarrassing husband.

The real reason Vernon only occupied the office as manager of Grunnings was entirely damage control. He had kept his real views hidden until he got that position, and now that he was there they couldn't legally throw him out. It also meant that while he could host dinner parties, they rarely sent him any people because Grunnings was a business worth several millions in pounds which meant they had _foreign_ investors. Investors who would take very poorly to Vernon's behavior and might withdraw funding.

Until he did something that they could legitimately throw him out on the street over, they were stuck with him.

What little power Vernon did have was inconsequential, and the office they gave him was one that they had made up to keep him out of the way and out of trouble.

Harry made a mental note to buy shares in his uncle's company so when Petunia did find someone better and they had a real connection, she could drop Vernon and leave Dudley with him. Until Harry saw some real improvement, his cousin was a lost cause. And Harry had some real ammunition to use to get Petunia to leave Dudley with his father... he knew for a _fact_ his aunt always wanted a little girl, but shortly after having Dudley something went wrong and she couldn't safely have children anymore.

He intended to offer to heal the problem and hopefully give her the chance to have the daughter she always wanted. All in exchange for leaving Vernon and having a life outside of simply being a house wife.

However it was the presents he got that had him chuckling.

Since finding out he was apparently a clone of the Doctor that had been exiled her to take care of one of his companions (though apparently the Doctor didn't think _that_ one through) he got several memorabilia and spin-offs of the show.

They did not, however, give him the _Doctor Who_ show itself.

Hermione laughed herself sick at the fez on Harry's head. And the tie, which combined with his outfit made him look silly. Hermione took multiple pictures.

Petunia was torn. On one hand, her nephew, who she had been forced to take in, was taking _her_ shopping for some new clothes. On the other, there was no way she would be able to afford such finery on Vernon's meager salary.

However when Harry mentioned he wanted her to find a better husband, one that would disparage everything that he didn't perceive as 'normal' and wouldn't hit their children like Vernon did him, she put aside her concerns.

She spent the entire day before Christmas being treated like a princess. And she left her new clothes at the Grangers. No need to tell Vernon something was up before the hammer fell.

Harry returned to Avalon with a new toy. Now that he knew what to look for, he had found and successfully remembered how to use his new Sonic Screwdriver.

Which was why he was bringing it back to Avalon. The Otaku club and the Library club now had a new project...magical sonic screwdrivers. Needless to say they were very happy about the prospect.

Archer ended up being drafted to teach how to use a sword correctly...it was a lost art, and there weren't many teachers who could show you how to use, say, a broadsword or a katana.

Archer could negate that with his Reality Marble...not that he knew how to use it at this point.

It seems that particular aspect of his magic, which technically was the _only_ magic he could use, was locked due to Harry's age.

He didn't mind. At this point in history, there was no need for that particular skill. And from what he understood, by the time he would actually _need_ to reign death from various pointy objects (thank you Amelia) it would already be unlocked either by the teachers, Harry, or possibly Zelretch.

This...Voldemort...character, or his Death Eaters, it really didn't matter which, wouldn't know what hit them.

At this point he didn't know whether to look forward to his new 'Master' meeting that undead pain in the ass, or to dread it.

* * *

Ms. Tory pulled Harry aside.

"You've been selected for the main flying team for next year. The captain said and I'm quoting him on this 'I'll be damned if I let our best flier stay on the sidelines when we could challenge the international circuit once he turns thirteen!'," she said grinning.

Once Harry was thirteen, he could legally enter the international flying circuit. Hogwarts only had Quidditch.

Avalon had everything from racing to sports like baseball, tennis and basketball.

It was rather awkward to kick a soccer ball with a stick of wood between your legs and stay aloft, hence why it wasn't on the list. There was some talk about adding golf though.

Harry had good eyes, but his hand-eye coordination while on a broom was crap. However his flying ability was second to none. Anyone who could fly upside down in F1 tornado conditions with his eyes closed was a shoo-in for the team. Especially if they didn't even have any charms on them to keep them on the broom.

Harry didn't know it, but the last time they had a ranking score for the best fliers, he had beat out everyone but those who who had more experience.

In short everyone but the flying teachers.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly for the most part...except for some pure bloods who didn't take the fact Harry had no interest in joining the Ministry or politics once he graduated, and that he was attending a first-generation run and operated school and not Hogwarts like everyone thought.

Fortunately Harry could care less if they weren't happy about his school choice.

* * *

"Another school year has gone! And before we start our delicious feast courtesy of the house elves who agreed to give the cooking club a break for once, there needs to be a few words said."

Ms. Tory stood up.

"The final tally of points earned, spent or lost will be posted in your rooms for you to compare. Tomorrow the buses we have will leave at twelve, two, and the last bus will be at four, so don't feel pressured if you miss the first bus. Any stragglers will be apparated straight to their homes. The position of top student based on scores from the Avatar Games, grades and point accumulation is...Rory Williams! Congratulations young man. Second place goes to Harry Potter and Amelia Pond respectively. Better luck next year! Another reminder to all students under seventeen... No magic outside the school. The Ministry already has it out for us because we're not inbred morons like the Pure Bloods,"said Ms. Tory, waiting for the snickering to die down.

"Coincidentally that 'no magic over the holidays' rule does _not_ apply to potions or magical artifacts," Ms. Jenny piped up.

"So if any of you want to spend your points to get some toy or upgrade your potions kit, you can do it before the buses leave. Don't forget, points will rollover to next year, and if you're graduating, whatever points you don't spend can be traded in for sickles or pounds," said Ms. Tory.

It was one of the many reasons they encouraged their graduates to accumulate points in their last year. The more points you had, the more money you could potentially earn as start up cash to make your own business, buy a home, or pay for college. It was just one of those little incentives to work hard.

It was also what they did with the extra cash that didn't get used up by the student fees and the tuition that everyone had to pay. They could earn back what they paid to come to Avalon.

Harry perked up. He had an upgrade but hadn't bothered to get it, but since it would likely keep him from having to hear Dudley in the few times that he slept at Privet Drive, this was a good investment.

A radio and a small portable TV set that ran off of magic. Two items that were promptly tweaked to have universal roaming.

If he was lucky, he would be able to hack a satellite so he could get Japanese broadcasts and watch anime directly. Odds are Archer would be able to teach him Japanese so he could hear the original voices and not the dubbed version.

"So how exactly did the old man take the fact I wasn't going?" asked Harry. Petunia had driven him to Spinner's End so he could chat with Snape...and improve his potions.

"He nearly had a heart attack...not to mention the hell the pure bloods raised when they found out you chose a muggleborn-run school instead of Hogwarts. Fudge wouldn't stop complaining about it," said Snape dryly.

"I have a question for you. Can the calming potion be taken by inhaling it, and is there any issues of addiction to deal with?"

"Why?"

"My sister is a neurotic bookworm who has panic attacks if she has a less than perfect grade. So far my roommate and I have been subtlety dosing her to keep her from being a pain in the ass during exam times," said Harry.

Snape winced.


	11. Chapter 11

It was close to summer's end and the beginning of his second year that he finally encountered a house elf. The encounter would further give Harry reason to insure Hermione never thought to free them...or meet this one.

Dobby was adamant that Harry _not go to Hogwarts_. Which confused him quite a bit seeing as how he didn't _go_ to Hogwarts. Another odd fact was that for some reason any owl mail he sent off never had a return reply, but e-mails did.

Apparently this Dobby had been confiscating his owl mail.

From what Harry could gather (with Archer's usual sarcastic input) this Dobby had been of the mistaken belief that Harry was a Hogwarts student. Probably because his masters had ranted about him and Hogwarts in the same sentence, unaware that Harry had chosen a school run by mundane-raised students.

In any event, Harry made sure to pass on that 'evil plots' were afoot in Hogwarts this year to Snape, considering he was a teacher there. The second he heard the house elf's name and the condition he was in, Snape immediately identified him as the Malfoy house elf, meaning Lucius was up to no good.

Which was when Harry offered a solution. If Lucius was trying to get rid of some dark artifact via the school, then Harry would be happy to take it to Avalon with him to see if they couldn't dispose of it safely. Or find out how it was made and counter it.

All in the name of education of course.

He would also pay Malfoy fairly for the 'price' of Dobby, if only to avoid any mistaken attempts by the house elf to 'protect' him. Let it never be said that for all his laid back attitude, Harry didn't think ahead.

* * *

When Lucius Malfoy woke up that morning, he never anticipated something this profitable showing up on his doorstep with a fellow Death Eater with them.

Severus had brought Harry Potter to his doorstep. He could only wonder what today would hold with that sort of omen.

Harry observed his surroundings with a critical eye, but volunteered no information. A very Slytherin tactic Lucius has used more than once to put his opponents on edge.

When he did spoke, it was with a calculated comment geared toward making Lucius show he had an actual brain.

"Are you using a specific _breed_ of snake, or are you just using the snake theme in general?"

Lucius stared at him.

"They are family heirlooms."

"The questions stands, are you aware of what breed of snake you have around your house and indeed on anything you want to use to remind people you were a Slytherin at school, or did you just pick a generic snake theme?"

Lucius looked at his cane and admitted openly "I have no idea what breed it is."

"Did you know that there are different meanings to different snakes? For example the Ouroboros is often portrayed as a snake eating it's own tail to symbolize longevity and eternity respectively."

His estimation of the so called 'Light' aligned Potter went up considerably.

"There is also the fact that the Gorgon Medusa was also thought of as a goddess until Athena corrupted her out of jealousy and drove her mad, and in a show of power had Perseus steal her head to show people not to defy her," added Harry. He didn't add that he got that from _Fate/Stay Night_.

"So what brings you here Severus?" asked Lucius, changing the subject. His estimation of the Potter boy had gone up considerably.

"We know about the plan to dump one of the Dark Lord's old school things at Hogwarts. Harry, however, had a different idea that can't come back to bite you if the Ministry catches wind," explained Snape.

Lucius blinked.

"And who spoke of this plan?"

"The informant is unimportant. What is important is that I have a verified way of disposing of a few...less than pleasant...artifacts that the Ministry can't fault you for. Instead they might in fact praise you for your dedication to education, no matter the source."

"Explain."

"The school I attend has a program where once a year we get a few dark artifacts from the goblins or anonymous donations and the students, particularly those training to become curse breakers, get some real-life experience before they graduate, with the agreement that the one who breaks the curse or dark magic on the item in question gets to keep it. However the teacher, who is a high-level curse breaker on loan from Gringotts, has to verify the item is safe first. They stay locked up until the curse or curses are broken, and the Ministry has never bothered to remove them because it's done in the name of education," said Harry.

"And this school you attend is..."

"Fairly high up in the rankings according to current ICW standards, and is primarily for those who are half blooded or first generation. And everyone signs a waiver which clearly states that any damage from curses on the artifacts or items in question will not be the responsibility of the donor or the school."

This was looking better and better already. He could rid himself of a few questionable dark artifacts, including that useless book and get the Ministry off his case if they found out. Better yet, if anything happened to the mudbloods, then he wouldn't be held responsible! It was a win-win!

That was when Harry noticed a familiar face, who looked stuck between gobsmacked and horrified to see him at the house.

Dobby.

Lucius noted his interest.

"This is Dobby, a house elf."

"How interesting. Where exactly would one procure a 'house elf'?"

"There is a shop, but buying one can take months. Unless, of course, you had the right connections."

Which meant pure blooded, connected and rich.

Harry had a speculative expression on his face calculated to get Lucius' attention.

"Well how much would you sell Dobby for?"

"Dobby is rather useless. Just the other day he burnt my supper," said Lucius dismissively.

"I find cooking, particular potions rather therapeutic. However I cannot for the life of me keep my own room straight," said Harry.

"Well he is good at that. Ten galleons," said Lucius after a moment.

"Seven, with the agreement to do more business later and keep the possibility of forging a friendship with your son open," said Harry. He knew this was a very calculated move, considering how well connected the Malfoys were. Not to mention the fact Narcissa was his second cousin.

"Deal."

Dobby was beside himself with joy after that. He was free of his abusive master and now the house elf of the Great Harry Potter sir, who treated him like an equal!

Lucius came out later with a few artifacts that would have severe fines if the Ministry discovered them. He had originally planned to sell them to Borgin and Burkes, but this was this was far more profitable in more than just galleons. Even if he did have to get a new house elf.

Harry Potter was not what he expected.

* * *

The answer to what the book was came from the goblins, as certain alarms went off.

Apparently it was a soul fragment, a dangerous highly dark ritual that was banned by anyone with any sense.

Finding out it was _Voldemort's_ soul that was fragmented spoke volumes, and started a search of the vaults belonging to all confirmed Death Eaters that were currently in Azkaban.

There was only one problem. They found another fragment, but they couldn't access it because the Head of the family had been thrown in without a trial. And without a trial stripping him of freedom and rights to Gringotts, they couldn't confiscate the piece.

Which led to this...

Harry shivered, but he had agreed to go to Azkaban in order to clear this mess up.

He didn't know what it was, but the entire island was freezing cold.

"_I don't like this place. They put soul eaters in charge of guarding the island, and they don't mind eating innocents,"_ said Archer.

Archer had kept quiet to avoid causing trouble in Diagon. It was an unspoken rule that they weren't to summon their avatars in places run by pure bloods, because they wouldn't understand.

However being around Dementors was more than enough reason for Harry to break that rule. No one liked the things.

"Come on. Let's find Black and get these papers signed so we can get out of here. Depending on how sane he is we might have to sit on a trial," said Harry, pulling his jacket closer.

Black was in the maximum security wing, and to the shock and relief of Harry, Archer's presence provided a repelling force against the creatures. Harry chalked it up to either Zelretch's meddling or the fact they didn't know what to make of him.

Black, as it turned out, was far more sane than his own cousin (and the entire reason they had come to Azkaban... the fragment was in her vault) though not entirely pleasant to be around because of lack of bathing options.

Once Harry made it clear he wasn't there to demand answers, but at the request of Gringotts for something Bellatrix had in her vault and that he needed the permission of the Family Head in order to remove and or destroy the artifact in question, Black signed the papers with the blood quill Harry had borrowed.

With that out of the way, Harry proceeded to drop bombshell after bombshell on Black.

He did agree to at least broach the subject about the lack of trial to the Law club in Avalon.

Odds were they'd enjoy shoving the fact that a noted Head of a once powerful Pure Blood family had been thrown away and no one thought twice about it.

He did like shoving the fact he had seen the full brunt of the so-called pranks on Snape and had been disgusted with his behavior. Odds were Snape would enjoy the look on Black's face when he found out.

* * *

Snape did enjoy the look on Black's face finding out his godson and pup called him an arrogant bully for the stunts he used to pull on Snape and that if the man wanted _any_ sort of relationship with Harry he would have to either grow up or attend extensive therapy.

He was even more pleased upon learning that now that the Department of Mysterieswas_ aware_ of what the Dark Lord had done, they would catalogue what he had stored his soul in before trying to find the others and preferably throwing them into the Veil of Death. Apparently Voldemort wasn't the first Dark Lord to use soul pieces, and after having to deal with trying to rid themselves of the things they came up with the Veil.

Anything non-living would come out the other side of the veil, minus the fragment inside. However anything living (like an owl or unlucky wizard) would end up dead on contact. The Veil was much like a dementor in that it made no efforts to distinguish it's victims.

* * *

Harry took one look at the bookstore and then forcibly dragged Hermione away from it.

He didn't know who Gilderoy Lockhart was, but one look at his picture spoke volumes about his personality. He was a glory hound and man whore. Harry didn't need to deal with _that_ crowd, if worse came to worse, he would just borrow the books from the older students.

At least until he heard about _other_ alleys.

Odds were they would be cheaper than Diagon.

"_I feel like we're back in King Arthur's time,"_ muttered Archer from his wrist. Harry looked at it amused.

"Yeah, the pure bloods do tend to give off that feeling don't they?"

"_And I'm guessing the reason why I'm not allowed out right now is because they would be upset and afraid."_

"Most of them don't even know what electricity is or what a computer can do," agreed Harry.

"_Sounds like the Magi, but at least they _try_ to pay attention to the times," _said Archer dryly.

There was a sudden beep, and Archer read aloud a text for him.

"_Harry, we have a minor situation at the book store and it looks like we could use a mediator. Also, be sure to bring the calming draught because Hermione is apparently gaga over this Lockhart idiot. Amelia."_

Harry sighed.

He waded through the massive crowd to where Hermione was, before he dutifully held her nose until her mouth had to open and dumped an entire vial of calming draught. While it was taking effect, Harry started to drag her out of the bookstore and far, far away from the Lockhart idiot when the worst thing happened.

Lockhart saw the scar and recognized him as a chance to bolster his fame.

Thinking quickly, Harry shoved Hermione towards her roommate and immediately elbowed Lockhart in the gut with his free arm. He was on instinct at that moment, as memories of his usual yearly book runs during his birthday or shortly after came to mind. Without thinking twice about it, he took the hard cover from the table and slammed it on the offending hand before kicking Lockhart back onto it.

All of this took place in a span of less than a minute.

Hermione, fully mellow now, sighed.

"Only an idiot tries to grab Harry during a book run, and only a fool would do so in the presence of hard cover books," she said shaking her head.

The crowd was silent, and Harry took a stance.

"Two years of Aikido," he said by way of explanation.

Harry had been a bit clumsy and all legs with adequate food and attention. Emma had signed him up for Aikido since it was the closest dojo and it had helped tremendously. So had dance classes.

Harry was actually a black belt, but he didn't advertise it if he could help it.

Lockhart, proving he didn't have many brain cells or he had bleached them out along with his teeth, shook off the sudden attack and announced he would be the new Defense teacher at Hogwarts...and that he was giving 'Young Harry' a complete set of his books free of charge.

Harry didn't want them, so he waited until they were clear of the door when he dumped them all in Hermione's arms.

"Consider this my apology for dumping that vial down your throat," said Harry.

"Apology accepted, and next time just hand it to me. I hate having my nose held like that just so you can dump calming drought into my throat."

"Fair enough. How about this...I'll pay for any pet you want in the store."

"Deal."

Hermione walked away with a brand new cat named Crookshanks. While it looked like something had smashed a frying pan in it's face, Harry kept his mouth shut as he had noticed the feline seemed especially intelligent.

Maybe it was a magical breed of cat?

* * *

"Got everything packed?" asked Dan.

"Yup. And if we didn't, Dobby could pop in to get it," said Harry cheerfully.

Dobby's subservient attitude grated on Hermione, who had somehow found a book on slavery back when it was still legal. Needless to say the book had made an impact on the then seven-year-old.

Which was why he urged her to try and change the laws _first_ before she got in over her head trying to change centuries of servitude. It was less likely to get her killed.

If it meant Hermione inadvertently helped on the case of Sirius Black, then he was all for it.

Unseen by Harry, a pair of eyes watched him leave.

Draco Malfoy had been moderately impressed by Harry's tactics, even if he thought the muggle fighting was brutish. He had dispersed of the useless books on someone likely to read them, and even made sure to stay on the good side of the witch he had forced a potion on with a cat. She looked the bookish type.

It was almost a pity Potter wasn't at Hogwarts, but that could easily rectified by having his godfather drop hints about Potter neglecting his duties as the Heir of an Ancient and Noble family. The fact Potter was willing to help out Lucius Malfoy rid himself of several dark and unpleasant artifacts (all in the name of education, which the Ministry couldn't fault them for or complain about) without once trying to blackmail him spoke volumes about his allegiances.

He had none. And Potter was someone who it would pay to cultivate, if handled correctly.

* * *

"I hate summer homework," said Harry. He was doing a two-day all nighter to finish his summer homework. He had done the harder work and left all the easy stuff for the last minute, to Hermione's annoyance.

"_You have only yourself to blame,"_ said Archer smugly.

"Yeah, but I can do _one_ thing to make studying go faster."

"_What's that?"_

"This," said Harry smugly, as he hit the 'mute' button on his bracelet. He could shut Archer up while he got his studying done and listen to his music through his headphones. Even if he materialized, he wouldn't be able to say anything.

With the snarky spirit shut up for the moment, and his music set to motivate, Harry got most of his homework finished with a day to spare.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Happy Birthday Wishes to ****Have a Little Feith! **_

_**As a special bonus, today is Mass Update Day! If you want me to personally wish you a happy birthday and update with an Author's Note dedicated to your special day, all you have to do is ask!**_

* * *

"So what did you do with those Lockhart books?" asked Amelia at their table.

"After I realized there was some serious inconsistencies with his timelines, I did some research on the cases mentioned. It turned out that the places he _claimed_ to have help were in fact helped by other witches and wizards," said Hermione in disgust.

"Archer helped us use the books as target practice," said Harry with a chipper voice.

"So what's the plan for this year?"

"Well, I did legally acquire several Dark artifacts that we can remove the enchantments from. Anyone who can remove all the dark magic and make them safe gets to keep or sell them," said Harry.

He had told the teachers he had gotten his hands on some pieces of dark magic that were rather dangerous. So he had an open invitation to anyone who could remove the harmful magics on them and said if they could make them safe for everyone to handle, they could keep or sell them. But the removal had to be done with every safeguard in place, and a teacher present.

Both for safety and so no one could claim they had removed the dark magic when they actually didn't. Not like he wanted the damn things.

"Wait...you mean that smaller trunk you handed the teachers with the express agreement that only those who pulled it off were allowed to have them were..." said Hermione, turning to look at him eyes wide.

"It's all in the name of education. If they can remove the dark spells and make them safe, then they're worthy of keeping them. I got them from someone who didn't want the Ministry fining them for the more unpleasant ones. I got rid of the worst one though," said Harry.

"What could possibly be so bad that you didn't put it with the others?" asked Rory morbidly.

"Well _apparently _the Dark Lord I offed at one split his soul or something. Boy were the goblins pissed. They got to keep the artifact they found in the vaults, and I dumped the problem of finding any other pieces on people who actually have the time, resources and ability to dispose of the things," said Harry chipperly. A little too pleased considering the subject matter.

That caused a spit take reaction from three of the four people at the table.

"Seriously?" said Amelia.

"Hey, I apparently already took care of some 'evil dark plot' at that outdated castle by going to the source and giving them another option and convincing them to sell their house elf. I deserve a nice quiet year. Coincidentally I may or may not have a case that will give the Law Club a very good year and a nice start to a law degree or whatever the hell the magical world has."

"Okay, this I have to hear. How exactly are you going to get the _law club_ on your side?"

"Did you know Sirius Black, my godfather and head of the Ancient and Noble house of Black never got a trial? And he's one of the more influential Pure Bloods?" said Harry grinning.

"How long?" asked Rory.

"Three days after I supposedly took out Voodletort or whatever his name is, Sirius had a nervous break down and went after Peter Pettigrew. They arrested him while in the middle of a nervous breakdown and then didn't even have the decency to dose him with veritaserum to insure he actually _did_ it."

"Oh yeah, I can see the Law Club being happy with that sort of case. Having such an old and well known pure blood family backing the school would do a lot to knock Hogwarts down a few pegs in the Ministry."

"What, like having the Boy-who-lived isn't good enough?" asked Harry with a grin. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It would go a long way to getting the pure bloods off their high horse if you graduated and became even more famous and made sure to name drop the school often, but having an _adult_ pure blood come here and say we're better to the Ministry would be even more damaging for Hogwart's stellar reputation. Especially since Black is a Hogwarts graduate," said Clara, who had overheard.

"...What would happen if Hogwarts own potions master asked to come here and teach instead?"

Snape had complained about working under Dumbledore for months. He hated Hogwarts, because it held too many memories.

However, if he came to Avalon he would find students who were highly attentive to detail and more interested in staying out of trouble and getting good grades instead of the restless brats of Hogwarts.

"That would mean Hogwarts would be taking a steep nosedive in the rankings," said Amelia eagerly.

"There's also the chance we could convince the Malfoy Heir that first gens and half-bloods aren't as inferior as he has been raised to believe. Most of those dark artifacts came from Lucius after all."

"That would be an interesting time. Teaching someone like a Malfoy about how we do things here and showing how we have better classes. Wonder how he would react to the bouncy castle room, or the room where we watch approved movies?" chuckled Amelia.

That got the other first gens to chuckle evilly. For that matter how would a Malfoy react to the Avatar system?

* * *

Harry approached the Law Club on the case of Sirius Black...or lack thereof...a week in during their first meeting. One did not simply approach the Law Club. One had to go through the proper channels unless they were willing to pay in points.

Well, Harry had the points and he had a case they would definitely be interested in.

Once he got the invite (or more specifically the key to the Law Club's official club room, which was full of books) he went to the room promptly after classes.

"Welcome, Second year Potter. How may we sue you?" asked David, the president of the club.

"I have a case for the Law Club, one that you might really enjoy because you'll make Fudge look like a bigger idiot than normal...and it would earn some serious prestige."

"What's the case?"

"Sirius Black. He's been in Azkaban for eleven years without even a trial, and no one has bothered to give him one. Innocent or guilty, I just want to be sure he was in fact the one who got my parents killed," stated Harry simply.

David looked pretty excited at the idea.

Someone going eleven years in the _worst_ part of Azkaban without a trial? That was definitely going to make headline news!

"Would you like us to keep you posted?" asked David.

"If you can secure a trial, let me know. I want to be present so we can see if his imprisonment was in reality a farce, considering if he hadn't been thrown into Azkaban I would have lived with him and not my maternal aunt."

That had a few of them sitting up.

"Tell us everything you know about your relationship with Black. The more details we have, the easier it will be to request information from the goblins," said David.

Harry typed in everything he knew about his relationship with Black, those he knew connected to Black, and his history with Snape.

The more he typed, the bigger the eyes of David. Who for some reason looked disturbingly like Barty Crouch Jr. several years younger. The fifteen year old still couldn't believe the resemblance between them when he looked up the old court cases.

"Wait, wait, wait. Black is the _magically bound_ godfather? On register?" he asked holding up a hand.

"I think so, you would have to requisition the goblins, and I'll don't mind giving you full access to any information you might need."

"Black might actually be innocent. Godparents that take a magically binding oath cannot do anything that would bring harm or death to the child in question. Their magic would kill them if they tried," said David.

"Just think of the favors Black will owe you for getting him out of that place _legally_. The looks on the pure bloods faces finding out that first gens and half bloods did something they never even dared to try because they're idiots."

"You had us at interesting case and favors from a well established line," said Denise.

"Which brings me to the other reason for this meeting. My sister Hermione apparently found a book on slavery when she was younger and now she's taken the whole concept of house elves badly. Do you think you could show her how to force pure bloods to at least treat them civilly rather than trying to free them when the majority don't want it?"

"How bad is she?" asked Denise.

"She's an anal retentive bookworm who has a bossy know-it-all personality and will not hesitate to force you into insane study sessions," said Harry flatly. "We've found dosing her with calming draught works wonders with making her more tolerable to be around during stressful situations."

Denise grinned much like a shark.

"We can work with that."

The next week Hermione was tricked into the club and found her calling. At least now she had a carrier path she could enjoy. As a lawyer she could boss a lot more people around and be paid to do it.

* * *

"_I'm bored."_

"Go fight in the arena then," said Harry.

"_No one wants to fight me anymore. They said I'm too overpowered,"_ complained Archer.

"Well to be fair you've got more experience and an ever changing weapons arsenal that revolves around swords and a bow that never misses. Tell you what, let me finish my homework and I'll introduce you to an arena you won't automatically _win_ at if you fight."

That got his interest.

"_What's this arena about?"_

"Ever heard of Battlebots?" said Harry grinning evilly. This ought to be hilarious. If only because the most experience Shirou had with mechanical objects was repairing them, not making them.

_A few days later..._

"_OH COME ON! HOW DOES HE KEEP KILLING ME?!"_

Oh yeah, Archer was hooked on Battlebots and MMO's.

Harry should have done this months ago.

* * *

Sirius Black had the most confused expression on his face.

"Okay, I'm lost here. How exactly are you getting me out of here?"

"You've never been given a trial. And you're the head of an old, noteworthy pure blood house. Meaning that they have to abide by the same laws that they put into place to keep the muggleborns and those with creature inheritances down."

Sirius worked that through his head, before a slow, evil grin on his face appeared.

"Besides, if we do this right then we can give Dumbledore's reputation a good hit and gain an ally that will bring more equality to muggleborns. Either that or someone who might be willing to help us start a secondary government, since I'm sure the Blacks have quite a few law books of their own that we don't."

Sirius blinked, before he finally said "I think the muggleborns would be better off with their own government, because from what I've heard the Ministry is still on the same rut it's always been in."

David agreed completely, the issue was contacting the muggleborns lost because of Hogwarts and their inability to give them jobs.

It wasn't like there weren't any muggleborn-run towns already in operation.

"We get you out of here and on the road to actually having a relationship with your godson, and you use your connections to contact the muggleborns. If we get enough we can oust the Ministry and get some real progress done."

"You get me out and you can have my first born," deadpanned Sirius.

"Let's not go that far. In the meantime we've asked Andromeda Tonks to act as our adviser, since the Minister won't accept testimony from our club directly."

Sirius nodded. That was a sound strategy. Andy would bring it up and get the job done, while they did all the work and got the credit.

And it meant he was one step closer to getting back with his godson, especially after he screwed up.

* * *

"Oh come on!"

"_You snooze, you lose,"_ said Archer smugly.

"Best three out of five!"

"_Not a chance."_

"Are you STILL playing that game?" said Hermione exasperated.

"Hey, it's not our fault that Zelretch somehow managed to get us onto SAO without having to deal with that stupid Nervgear on us!"

"...What?"

Harry sighed.

"According to the series, Sword Art Online was a virtual MMO that was supposed to be the _first_ real interactive game for something called Nervgear. The problem was that it was so immersible that when it finally went public, all ten thousand players that were on the server were trapped because of a madman. It took two years, but eventually one player beat the creator and freed everyone."

"And this is?"

"Like I said, Zelretch got us SAO, but it's more of a 2-D version."

"_You have to play as one of the trapped players and stay alive, or as the one who beat the creator and win."_

Hermione looked like she had a migraine.

"And who are you playing?"

"I'm the friend of the Main character," said Harry.

"_I'm playing Kirito, because he uses dual sword skills."_


	13. Chapter 13

**No, the laptop has not been fixed. Yes, I have found a TEMPORARY replacement that requires an external keyboard, but still has wifi. I am not happy my laptop broke, and the current one is seriously outdated.**

* * *

"Celebi, you can kick their ass!" shouted Harry with far too much glee. His opponent groaned while Archer snorted. He was Harry's double-battle partner.

It had taken years, but the prototype for the Pokémon games using only magic was finally up and running. All because of Harry and his unique brains.

All he asked for in exchange was Celebi. Both in the game and real life. Or at least a doll of it.

And now the tiny green fairy was kicking everyone ass in the battle simulations. Hackers FTW people!

Archer snorted.

"_So any idea what you plan on making your secondary avatar?"_

"Depends on my animagus form. Though I guarantee you I'm keeping my bloody Celebi. I could maintain a third avatar...but the others would be stuck in Astral form."

"_Meh._"

"It's your turn Archer."

"_Skarmory, Steel Wing!"_

"Argh! You knocked out Pikachu!" whined their opponents.

"_A purely electric type against a Steel and Flying? No contest," _said Archer smugly.

Even Shirou had heard of Pokémon. It was hard _not_ to recognize the infamous Pikachu when you lived in Japan. Never played it before now, though now that he was hooked (purely out of boredom, along with the Gundam craze) he was beating Gym Leaders left and right.

_**Winner...Archer and Harry! Collect your points as you leave the VRA.**_

In lieu of 'money', students laid down a specified amount of points down. In the Virtual Reality Area, which was where they usually performed plays, Pokémon battles were about to become the newest craze.

In order for a program to stay in the 'active' file, a certain percentage of students had to use it monthly. Otherwise it fell inactive and you had to spend extra points in order to use it.

Harry looked beyond smug as they left the VRA area.

"You know sometimes you really suck," said Amelia. It had been _her_ Pikachu Archer had TKO'd.

"Yes, but if not for me then the Otaku club wouldn't be able to have an _actual_ Porygon Z as their mascot of the year."

Each year the Otaku club selected one character as the mascot of the club. This year, thanks to Harry, it was Porygon Z. It would be Pikachu, but there were only three Pokémon that were 'man-made' that would suit their requirements. By common consensus, they all chose the latest version of Porygon.

"Celebi rules all," said Harry smugly.

"It's a fairy," said Hermione crossly.

"I would have thought you'd like the fairy-type!" joked Harry.

"I would...if you hadn't used it to completely annihilate my precious Alakazam," said Hermione frostily.

"Well _you're_ the one who chose a Pokémon based on it's description and not it's base stats," said Amelia.

Hermione growled.

"Not to mention the fact Archer has pretty much been testing this system for days now, and has built up a pretty strong Skarmory."

Archer's days weren't nearly as filled as he would like. So naturally, he got bored since there weren't any wars or battles he could go to...not while he was attached to Harry at any rate. Which meant he had a _lot_ of free time.

Fortunately Harry could care less about him using some of his points to kill time until he had something he _could_ do. Namely when he got to fight with other Avatars.

He was a fighter, so this idle peace was driving him nuts. Naturally he gravitated to the more violent programs just to kill time. He really, really liked the Gundam ones.

Hermione scowled. Just because this was her first time didn't mean she enjoyed being obliterated by a green fairy Pokémon.

"Why Celebi anyway?"

"I'm a major _Doctor Who_ fan, but the closest I could come to was Celebi, Palkia, and Dialga. And frankly I like Celebi more because you can carry it around and it won't automatically fight. Palkia and Dialga are _always_ fighting each other whenever they see each other."

"I'm surprised they haven't made a TARDIS program yet," said Hermione, shaking her head.

"They have, but I was deliberately locked out of it for medical reasons. Archer plays around with it from time to time," said Harry.

Mostly to learn the controls, seeing as how it had been revealed there was an inactive TARDIS waiting for Harry once his Time Lord abilities were awakened properly. However because his brain wasn't quite up to handling the full brunt of the computations that a Time Lord could...it was why he kept felt like his brain was overheating.

If the mind was a computer, then adding the Time Lord program would over-strain the computing power and force the entire thing to shut down.

So they had to lock Harry out of the _Doctor Who_ programs for safety reasons until his mind could keep up with the processing requirements.

Archer, on the other hand, wasn't locked out. In fact he was actively encouraged to learn the controls, since it was a given he would be flying inside one eventually.

He mostly did it to get a brief, if rather amusing look at what it was like to be the annoying fanged Troll, Zelretch. Even if he used a ship to do it.

* * *

Archer should have guessed this would happen. He really should have. His favorite 'toy/victim' learning the fun of time travel coupled with multiple planets that ranged from the interesting to the bizarre?

Of course it drew Zelretch out. And much to his horror, Zelretch gravitated immediately to the one wizard that had _him_ as an Avatar.

Needless to say Archer's prompt reaction to bang his head against the first hard surface he found amused both Harry and Zelretch.

"_Why?"_

"Why not? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone capable of using the Kaleidoscope and actually be interesting? Especially one that already comes with a Servant? Besides, I'm bored."

"Question. If I learn how to use the 2nd True Magic, can I find a way to apply it to the TARDIS so that I could travel between universes as well as time and space?" asked Harry.

"_What are you thinking?" _asked Archer with a definite whine to his voice. He didn't want to be around Zelretch any longer than he had to!

"Oh...I'm liking this. Giving your ship a way to cross dimensions without causing a rift... What's your plan once you find him?"

"What else? Trolling the hell out of him for leaving me with his ex-girlfriend and dumping me in another universe where I have to live with his guilt and the fact _I'm not him_."

Zelretch smirked.

"Now that's the sort of attitude I wanted to hear. I'll help you add the ability to the TARDIS, but I want pictures and lots of them. And if you're good I might even leave a time-locked event that you can alter for your first adventure."

Harry's eyes immediately drifted to Archer, then at Zelretch who's smirk had only widened. Clearly Harry had an idea of _what_ event Zelretch was referring to.

"_You do realize if you agree to this, then you'll be put through your own personal hell until he's bored with you," _said Archer. He remembered fervently the amount of cursing Rin did while under Zelretch's tutoring.

"Ah, but unlike his past victims, I have one thing on my side," said Harry.

"And what's that?" asked Zelretch.

"I'm the product of a madman in a blue box, and some of his madness is still in me. Every trial only makes it worse, but at the same time makes him seem even more brilliant. The Doctor has to suffer the knowledge _he_ destroyed Gallifrey, igniting a flame that would save countless lives and change countless more. I suppose I could call Zelretch's pranks the flame that insures I follow in those footsteps," said Harry.

"That's the spirit!"

"_You poor deluded soul. You are so screwed and you don't even realize it yet. Just leave me out of your schemes,"_ said Archer.

"Keep telling yourself that I'm leaving you out of it. Just wait till we eventually see Hogwarts."

Archer groaned.

"_You poor, poor bastard."_

* * *

If Archer thought Zelretch teaching Harry the basics of Magecraft was bad, that was _nothing_ compared to what happened when the Otaku Club found out he was there.

Zelretch suddenly found himself with a large group of fanatics who were more than happy to deal with his eccentric behavior if it meant learning more about other worlds.

The Troll of the Clock Tower was quite pleased by these turn of events. At the very least he wasn't bored out of his mind anymore.

The teachers, when they found out about a vampire in the school, had a rather...interesting...reaction.

They gave Zelretch his own class with the instruction that he was free to traumatize the students (within reason), but he wasn't allowed to feed on any. Far be it for the most progressive school in Europe to be unable to cater to a rather unusual vampire teacher with magic never before seen.

Archer felt sorry for any students of the Troll, and was glad he was an avatar and therefor didn't have to attend any. He was more than happy to hide in the VRA room until things calmed down.

"Wait, you had nothing to do with the fact Archer was suddenly attached to my Avatar?" asked Harry, sipping his tea.

"I may be good, but I'm not that good. I seriously doubt Black Wing had anything to do with it, because this doesn't really feel like his style."

"Black Wing?"

"My grandson... or one of my alternates at any rate. He's one of your alternates, but he's so far removed from the rest of the 'Harry Potter' that he can only use the bare basics of the Kaleidoscope. My guess is that Archer attached to you because you two were the most compatible."

"You mean a summoning without a catalyst or a circle?" said Harry, scrunching up his face.

"Exactly. Think about it. The two of you were so desperate to change your own fate that you are willing to cross your own time-lines, which according to the Time Lord laws is forbidden. Not to mention the fact that the only way Archer could possibly change his own fate is if he were willing to give something up in return."

Harry raised an eyebrow. He had an idea of what Zelretch meant, but there was very little he could do while his brain was at _barely_ half-capacity.

"So then, how are we going to mess with the heir of the Malfoy family once he gets here?" said Harry. Zelretch grinned, evilly.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was scheduled to visit the school over Christmas break, in order to try and establish a 'business connection' with the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry had other plans. He would try and befriend the Malfoy heir, but he planned to break him. He would show Draco Malfoy that everything the Dark Lord spouted and all the nonsense Dumbledore allowed to spewed by the pure bloods was all bullshit.

Draco would find first gens weren't inferior. Pure bloods were just a dying faction that would wipe itself out in a few years thanks to all the inbreeding. If they didn't wake up, then the odds of the old lines surviving were next to none.

"So what's the Christmas play this year?" asked Hermione.

"That...is a secret. Though I will say it will appeal to the girls at least," said Harry.

"...We're not doing that _My Little Pony_ episode are we?" asked Hermione.

"How did you know?"

"I saw Amelia sewing up something in two tones of pink with balloons," said Hermione.

"At least the Drama club gets lots of help from the others," said Harry.

"True."

"So you're doing the Hearth's Warming episode?"

"We couldn't make up our minds, so we did our usual way of determining what to perform."

"And what's that?"

"We put a whole bunch of ideas on a digital dart board and had someone throw a dart onto one of the ideas. They were covered up to prevent bias, and Archer landed a dart on the Hearth's Warming story."

"_In exchange they agreed I wouldn't have to help perform with them this year,"_ said Archer.

Hermione blinked, before she giggled. Apparently she had run through the idea of Archer in a Pony costume and she quickly saw how hilarious it would be.

"_I hate Zelretch. Thankfully he's about to get a new victim to torment so he won't have time to try and stuff me into such a costume."_

"When is the Hogwarts student supposed to be here?"

"Four days, and that's only because it takes a full week in order to create, program and enchant guest passes."

Hermione blinked.

"Why would it take a week?"

"It takes a full month to create our magical identification bracelets. That that's if you want to do it right. Guest passes have limited functions, and only work as 'key cards'. Even the fanged troll had to wait a week before he could come and go as he pleased from the various rooms."

"I suppose it does make some sense. The avatar system alone is pretty advanced compared to other schools," said Hermione.

"I can't wait to see the pure blood's head explode from the fact we're so far ahead of their precious castle, both magically and technologically," said Harry, rubbing his hands with evil glee.

"It's official, you spend far too much time with that vampire," said Hermione deadpan.

Archer loudly agreed with the sentiment. Any time conspiring with Zelretch was too much in his opinion.


	14. Chapter 14

Draco Malfoy, son and heir of the Malfoy line, didn't know what to expect of the school full of half-bloods and muggleborns. All he knew was that there were few, if any pure bloods, that they held the top ranking of all the magical schools in Europe, which Hogwarts claimed to hold.

It might have been true a few centuries ago, when they were still the main school for magic in England, but there were now several schools and it had fallen out of the Top Ten.

Draco knew this not from prior research, but because of his father who often complained about how Dumbledore was a bad Headmaster for the school. Lucius Malfoy was not entirely pleased that a school of mud bloods held the position of the best school for magic in Europe according to the international standards. Hogwarts was considered a joke.

He normally wouldn't even consider setting one foot in a school full of mudbloods, but his father had agreed to it because of one fact.

The Boy-Who-Lived was attending this particular school. And Draco's mission was to see if it was possible to befriend him...or at the very least make a business alliance.

Draco personally didn't hold much hope for Potter. After all, he had dismissed an open invitation to Hogwarts in favor of a school run by half blooded idiots.

All that perception about the school went right out the window five minutes after he was in it.

Draco felt like a small child in a high school with no idea of how things were supposed to be or worked. To be fair, Harry probably shouldn't have started the tour with what was collectively called the 'bouncy castle' room that could double as a giant wind tunnel. After experiencing true flight in a room where you could literally bounce off the walls for fun, Draco started to feel a little more unsure about the superiority of Hogwarts.

Then Harry introduced him to the VRA, or the Virtual Reality Area where students could create anything their minds could come up with and even play something he called "Ultimate Laser Tag". It cost points to play, but it gave them something to do when their homework was done.

Draco felt distinctly like a fish out of water. And he had no idea how to ground himself enough not to freak out.

Fortunately Harry took pity on him and introduced him to the Wizard's Chess club...who usually borrowed a smaller VR room to take the places of the chess pieces because it was more fun.

Needless to say his opinion that pure bloods were automatically superior to muggleborns had taken a pretty severe blow.

Draco became much more tolerable to be around once his pride as a pure blood took a good hit.

Now he was looking at everything the school had to offer with a fresh perspective, and keeping his snark about 'mud bloods' to a bare minimum. In order to keep him from sliding backwards, Harry introduced him to the Law Club and the fact they were currently investigating the case of Sirius Black, Draco's cousin through his mother.

If there was anyone who could navigate the pure blood nonsense, it was someone steeped in pure blood propaganda and close to the Minister himself.

Draco dove into the law books with relief...once they showed him how to navigate the digital books. Apparently the idea of an index was something he had never seen before.

It made Hermione shudder at the thought of the Hogwarts Library. According to Draco it took days to find anything during exam time, and the History teacher was stuck firmly on Goblin Rebellions and could put you to sleep within minutes.

The thing that seemed to shock Draco the most was the fact that the school had adopted the points system, but did not have the familiar counters of Hogwarts. No, instead they made the students _personally_ responsible for their point tally instead of a collective responsibility, which came complete with rewards and punishments.

Considering the rewards were often expensive and sometimes lavish prizes, it was of little wonder that so few ever escalated beyond a slightly embarrassing prank, and no one dared to hex or sabotage others because of bloodline or family connection. In fact, the school seemed far more peaceful than Hogwarts, where blood prejudice was rampant and your house affiliation determined how people treated you.

After hearing about the point system, Draco's first thought was of the Weasley twins, a pair of pranksters that were in and out of detention at least once a week. He had little doubt they would end up in the negative within a month of being here, and said as much to Harry.

Ironically this comment would lead to an interesting idea for Harry, one which he voiced to the teachers about a possible 'exchange student' program. A way to lure in some of the more open minded pure bloods for a full year.

Draco was a fountain of information on the who's who in the old lines. Specifically which children would be open minded enough to handle coming to a school full of muggleborns and half-bloods.

And at the top of that list was none other than Fred and George Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and possibly Blaise Zabini.

Though Draco had ulterior motives for throwing Blaise in the deep end. Zabini was one of the few Slytherins who could possibly oust him as Prince of Slytherin if he put his mind to it, and throwing him into the deep end of muggleborn advancement might be enough to make it very hard for him to catch up with a whole year of Hogwarts idea of schooling.

The fact that Hogwarts was out of date wasn't the problem. The problem lay in the fact that the pure bloods that ran it would automatically assume he had gotten a backwards education and would have to make up an entire year. He would have to spend precious months on homework, which would put him behind even further and give Draco an edge.

In any case, the teachers were seriously considering offering ten pure bloods a chance to see what life was like outside their own schools

And by the time Draco left back for the outdated ways of Hogwarts, plans were in motion to extend an invitation to four Hogwarts students, and six from other schools in the area.

If they happened to tempt pure bloods away from the foolishness of Albus Dumbledore, well, all the better.

Every month the students had a meeting of the clubs to address any new events or news from each club. Everyone would celebrate their triumphs and share in their failures. In order to insure impartial treatment, only those who took part in non-essential and well funded clubs were allowed to put in their name to be on the council, and they had to have served at least three years in the school. Harry hoped to at least be a minor part of the Council, since the Otaku club fit that criteria, as did the Flying club.

* * *

"Law Club, you may share your reports," said John. He had been the President of the School Council and the voice of the students since he was a third year. Unlike most students he made the School Council his priority, and only had one club as his requirement.

He was a member of the "Healer's Club", which was a group dedicated to finding new medicines, treatments and teaching basic triage to any student who was interested. Rory happened to be a rather high-ranked member of this club, and it had a ninety-five percent success rate for anyone who wanted to be a doctor or a first-level healer.

David stood up, and went to the podium as the representative of the Law Club.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the student body. I am very happy to announce that the Law Club has successfully garnered the attention of the Wizangamot, and that our attempts to get the head of the Black family, Sirius Black, a trial are a success. Mr. Black will be in court with his attorney, our associate Andromeda Tonks, on Monday and I have no doubt he will be declared innocent of all charges. Just to be on the safe side we've requested and Auror guard of muggleborns with no association with Black or either side of the war until he goes in for trial."

"And what exactly is Mr. Black charged with?"

"The charges that landed him in Azkaban are as follows. Betrayal of the Potters to the Dark Lord, murder of one Peter Pettigrew, and the death of at least twelve mundanes. However the lack of evidence and the fact they threw him into Azkaban without a trial reeks of a cover-up. We also made it mandatory that Mr. Black attend no less than one year of proper therapy for his incarceration before he is allowed anywhere near polite society," said David promptly.

"Good work, Law Club. Any public attention that results in good publicity for the school is always welcomed. Now, are there any others who would like to share any noteworthy events during the past month?"

No one raised their hand. The Law Club was the only one who had anything to report, and they had been given the floor first.

"Very well, onto new matters. After a minor comment by a guest during Christmas, the teachers have decided to activate the 'exchange' program. Ten students will be seeded into one of the other magical schools for one full school year, and will be required to write a full report on the teachers, the education level, and the pros and cons of the school in comparison to ours. This year they've elected to invite four pure bloods from Hogwarts, and four of ours will be selected based on certain criteria from the volunteers. Because of the prejudice against first generation students, only half-bloods from known lines will be sent to Hogwarts, and certain students will not be allowed to enter their name for consideration."

Harry automatically knew they meant him, because if he went to that backwards school then they might try to keep him for posterity. Frankly he enjoyed the clubs here too much to consider adding his name to the volunteer list.

"Now, as we are all aware, Hogwarts is in the lower rankings of magical education, and no doubt some of the pure bloods will have trouble coping with how we do things. So we will be asking for volunteers to help them adjust until the school year is over and the exchange program has run it's course," said John.

Martha raised her hand.

"When will the exchange program take place, and how many schools are participating?"

"We're extending invitations to Beauxbatons, Hogwarts, Maeve's School for Young Witches, and a smaller trade school that is more for those seeking Masteries once they leave Hogwarts. That last one will be working more with the teachers than the students, so you don't have to worry too much about those. We would have included Durmstrang, but the last time they were invited they sent an extremely rude and derogatory reply, so they were excluded in this round."

The exchange program was often invoked once every decade, twice, if they were lucky, as an attempt to steal muggleborns from Hogwarts. Thanks to Harry's slight redecoration of Flourish and Blotts before the school term, this time around it was more to see if they could open up the minds of a few pure bloods as the muggleborns now knew of the alternative schooling.

As a result the school class in Hogwarts had dropped like a stone and now barely had ten children per year, if that.

Amelia raised her hand next. Only those interested in hearing the happenings of other clubs attended school council meetings, and most of the members rarely went because they thought it would be boring. Hermione among them. Harry, however, went to every one. Council meetings were an open "Q and A" session for any member, no matter the rank. They only chose speakers whenever the club needed extra funding and couldn't find a backer.

The Otaku club generally ran their requests through Harry after he joined, and he usually helped to update their collections so long as everyone could enjoy them. Personal items like figurines and mint-condition action figures had to be bought by the student in question. Books, movies and new equipment, he generally helped to fund.

It wasn't like he had anything better to do with his inheritance, since Avalon cost much less than Hogwarts.

"Which pure bloods are being considered for the exchange program?"

"In Hogwarts we have Fred and George Weasley (twins), Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. And the two from Beauxbatons are sisters, specifically a pair of quarter Veela from the Delacour family. We also have three werewolves in consideration, though they'll have to be locked up once a month and given extra time to turn in homework due to their condition."

Avalon was one of the rare schools that allowed werewolves in as students without telling the Ministry. To be fair, it was only the pure blood or pure blood raised that considered them to be monsters.

Most of the students just treated the odd werewolf student as someone with a medical condition like diabetes...that just happened to pop up once a month.

However they did have standards. Anyone who agreed with Fenrir Greyback wasn't allowed, and they had to sign a magical agreement to take either a potion once a month or to lock themselves up in a large outdoor forested area during the full moons, or risk expulsion.

Those that took the potion were allowed to stay in the school, those that didn't werent allowed back into it until after the transformation had worn off, and the outer fence was strictly guarded by teachers under scent canceling potions riding brooms until sunset.

It was documented fact that werewolves only attacked humans because their scent read as 'prey' to them. They just had the bad luck of being considered lower on the 'food chain' than a vampire.

Naturally this meant werewolves hated pure bloods more than they did muggleborns.

* * *

"So how did the meeting go?" asked Hermione, though she only asked out of boredom.

"The Law Club was able to get Sirius Black a trial, we might have some pure bloods from two different 'traditional' schools coming along with a few others, and the rest was hashing out the monthly budget as usual."

The Council had a limit of how much they could allocate to each club. It was the duty of the clubs to help balance the budget to the point everyone could live with, and anything that didn't get used would be considered 'extra' in the event they went slightly over or needed emergency funds. And you had to provide a detailed list of receipts for each expenditure as well as a reason _why_ you needed to spend the money.

Some schools had budget issues, theirs had accountants who were more like sharks with blood in the water if they even _thought_ you were trying to siphon off some of the monthly funds for personal gain. It was simply easier to come up with a plausible excuse for why you needed something than to make it up and get caught.

"Wait, what? What's this about exchange students?"

"Remember that throw-away comment Malfoy made during Christmas? Well as it turns out the school has an exchange program they use to try and get some of the muggleborns out of Hogwarts and other schools, but it only happens once or twice a decade. Since I accidentally broke the monopoly of new magical blood away from Hogwarts, they're going to try and get a few pure bloods instead, specifically those who are a bit more open minded than others."

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"Mostly to annoy the pure bloods who'll think we're 'tainting' their children with muggle thinking, and to really one-up Dumbledore and the Ministry," shrugged Harry.

"Ah. Wonder how they'll react when they find out we take our exams a year early since our education is better?" asked Hermione.

"Who cares?"


	15. Chapter 15

Harry was only peripherally aware of Sirius Black being declared innocent of all charges, as exams were coming up in a very ominous way.

Hermione, having learned the hard way that being an anal-retentive know-it-all wasn't appreciated and would be dealt with via forced dosing with calming potions, decided to join the Law Club study group instead.

Attention to detail and sniping was acceptable within reason...and they only forced a calming potion down her throat if she got too snippy with the others.

Having kindred spirits seemed to mellow her out some, though Harry was of the firm opinion Hermione might be easier to live with once she was old enough to 'get laid', or whatever that meant.

Since Zelretch was so new to the school, he didn't have exams as much as survival tests where his students were pranked, hard, and they had to survive an hour of his boredom.

Frankly Archer thought that was enough of a test, and the weird thing was that the kids kept coming back for more punishment no matter what Zelretch threw at them!

Wizards were strange, suicidal people...

* * *

Molly was looking through the Owl Post when she saw it. It looked like a school invitation, which was strange because all of her children had either graduated or were still _in_ school.

Curious, she opened the letter.

"_Dear Mister or Madame Weasley, of the Weasley family,_

_ We are delighted to inform you that two of your children have been selected for a special exchange program between the Avalon Academy of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry scheduled to begin next year. As this is an entirely voluntary exchange, all school fees for the students chosen are paid in advanced, all required books and supplies will be given free of charge for the student to keep, and those that accept are given a two month period to prepare for this rare honor._

_Please note that this does not mean that your children are being removed from the roster of the school which they currently attend. All major exams such as OWLs or NEWTs will still be taken as scheduled. As this exchange only lasts a year, the children in question will be able to return to their normal schooling by the start of next year, no questions asked._

_If your children do not wish to accept the offer of joining the exchange program, please reply no later than August 23rd of this year._

_Sincerely..."_

Molly couldn't believe it...and it almost didn't seem real when she found out which of her two children were being chosen. Out of her entire brood she might have guessed Ginny or Percy were the ones selected... never the twins!

Still, there was the fact that the school fees and supplies would be paid for, free of charge. Hogwarts was so expensive, especially for a family who lived on a limited income and had five children attending. Lockhart's books alone had nearly bankrupted them for the year.

Molly decided to learn more about the school before she left it up to the twins. What she found out was slightly heartening.

It was run by muggleborns and half-bloods who didn't allow any children from families that believed You-Know-Who's agenda in, and their classes were considered top notch. The fact they didn't have Houses was slightly off-putting but it seemed safe enough.

Still, it was up to the twins to see if they wanted to join in on this exchange program or not.

* * *

Augusta Longbottom, as it turned out, was the only parent who promptly answered the letter sent and demanded a meeting in person. She had noticed her grandson being rather shy and withdrawn, which simply wouldn't do for the Heir of the Longbottom family. Damn her second cousin Algie. He had to torment her grandson to the point he almost became a squib!

Neville never heard the row she had with the man after realizing he had dropped _her_ grandson out the window!

In any case while she was wary of the invitation to an 'exchange program', it was nothing compared to the fact she distrusted Dumbledore. She had seen Neville in tears at the thought of Snape's anger over something as simple as summer homework, and it made her blood boil. Clearly he was harassing her grandson.

So naturally she insisted on learning about the exchange the school in question. She could care less about tuition and supplies, she cared about quality.

Top of the ICW list of schools, personal responsibility for ones actions against other students, multiple clubs that revolved around all forms of interest, actual counseling in the event of bullying, a comprehensive potions and herbology program, a student-run budget that answered to the clubs...it sounded very good and safe to allow Neville to join in.

Hopefully a year away from the hostile school environment Dumbledore had created would do her grandson some good.

* * *

"Finally! Finals are over, final points are being awarded, and we don't have to worry about summer homework because of the exchange next year!" cheered Harry.

Rory groaned in agreement. Mock-healer exams were brutal enough...and next year he took his apprentice healer exams. Because they were much farther ahead academically wise to Hogwarts, they took important exams earlier so that the students had more time to study important things for their future careers.

Fortunately healer's exams rarely coincided with med-school exams. Meaning students could become doctors after getting their healer's license...though they had to take a the original oath and not the reworded one made after the magicals started hiding.

The current Oath stated they couldn't use magic to heal muggles. The original one written by Merlin himself said bluntly that they would never use their healing magics to kill, unless it was to end the pain of a patient humanely.

St. Mungo's hired those that took the original oath, but it did make them look at you oddly when they found out you weren't under the current oath commonly used.

Claiming you were a fan of tradition usually kept them from asking any awkward questions.

"I heard Hermione found her calling in the Law Club," grinned Amelia.

"She gets to boss people around, show off how smart she is, research old things no one cares about anymore, and she's paid to do it. What part of that wouldn't she like?" deadpanned Harry with a grin.

Hermione was a dog on a bone when it came to researching. And the fact they were paying her to show off her anal-retentive qualities without dosing her when she got too much to tolerate was something she loved. Not to mention she could shove facts that no one remembered or cared about down the throats of others without being told off. It was practically her dream job, complete with dusty old books.

"So what was your career choice again, Harry?" asked Amelia.

"I drew the adventure and teaching cards," said Harry.

It was considered a joke reading by the teachers...that often proved to be correct eight-five percent of the time.

Hermione had never bothered to do a reading, because she didn't believe in psychics or divination. Scrying was a useful skill, but it often went hand in hand with 'divining' the future, even if you had to have the gift for it to actually _work_.

"So you'll be an adventuring teacher?" said Rory blinking.

"Or a teacher who goes on adventures and learns," joked Harry.

"Considering you're the doppelganger of the Doctor, somehow I'm not surprised. The teaching thing is a bit weird though," said Amelia.

"Not as weird as the fact I plan to at the very least earn a doctorate after I graduate."

"So you'll be a doctor, just not _the_ Doctor."

"It's more than he ever did. He's never been an actual 'doctor' in his life," said Harry smirking.

"So what are your plans for summer?"

"Scare the Dursleys, sleepover practically every night with Hermione, practice Japanese with Archer, and wait until the next school year. Sirius Black might be free, but he can't have any unsupervised visits for a full year."

"So the same as always, just with supervised visits with your godfather," surmised Hermione.

"Pretty much."

"Or you could come visit us for once. Students are allowed to take the Knight Bus provided they remember to use galleons and sickles and not mundane currency," said Rory.

"What's the Knight Bus?"

"It's a form of magical transportation, though the driver should have had his license pulled years ago, because if it wasn't for the magical aspects of the bus itself he would have caused more wrecks than a NASCAR race," said Amelia.

"You summon it by holding your wand up, and the bus will appear within ten seconds or less. If you hold it down, you summon a magical taxi cab, though it's considered more expensive and they recommend the Knight Bus for long trips," said Rory.

"Really? And students can use the bus?"

"It's not considered underage magic use," said Amelia.

"Because it's the bus that's magical and not the summoning method," theorized Harry. He perked up. "Does this include international travel?"

"Only inside Europe, and you have to have a passport for anywhere outside English speaking countries. And if it goes anywhere near France, Bulgaria or even America, you have to automatically register your country of origin at the drop off point, but they don't really care if you leave without notifying the authorities. Coincidentally they also don't bother to track those with bracelets like ours. It's mostly for Hogwarts graduates that they keep track of," said Amelia.

Harry's eyes went evil-like.

"_Really? Why do I have the feeling you're going to be abusing the Knight Bus all summer?"_

"Do you really want to spend the summer with the pig, horse and walrus? Besides, I got my passport last year the first chance I got," said Harry.

Miss Maria, who happened to be passing by, overheard this comment.

"If you're planning to do a lot of international travel, then you'll need this," she said, as she uploaded an automatic English-translation of various countries laws.

For every country he entered, the list would immediately tell him what the laws were, what spells were illegal, and where to notify various authorities in an emergency. There was also another feature that told you of various entertainments (age-appropriate for each user), sights, and shopping centers. The bracelet would automatically vibrate if they went into a shop that wasn't appropriate for the user. Like say, an adult only store or a place where questionable magics could be found.

"You do realize that I expect to at the very least to see you if we happen to be in the same country," said Hermione.

"Only if I get a ten minute head start away from Mum," said Harry.

The Dursleys could care less if he more or less ditched them for the summer. They would welcome it!

Emma and Dan, however, would make him stay with the group and therefor miss a lot of interesting things because of silly things like a curfew and expenditures.

He had a trust vault, which meant he had a main vault that he couldn't use. And he deserved a real vacation for once!

"What's your cover story for Mum and Dad though?"

"Easy. I tell the Dursleys they just have to pay for a one-way ticket to Majorca this year, and right after they sign into the hotel I'll summon the Knight Bus and ditch them for the summer. Vernon will probably be thrilled with the idea of telling whoever the hell that put me there that I 'got lost' in another country, and have them chasing their tales until school starts again."

As it turned out, Vernon liked the idea so much that he didn't protest (too much anyway) at being stuck with Harry for a plane-ride.

Even if it was the cheapest seat available, the prospect of no wizard in the house for an entire summer was too much to pass up. Especially since he planned to travel with that 'freaky ghost friend' of his, which automatically heightened the chances of him being kidnapped or killed.

Harry had a list of things he could do, the translation charm refreshed every morning (it was one of the few spells on a list of magic they were allowed to use over the summer) and a new 'magic card' that acted like a debit card straight from his vault. Sure the goblins would likely charge him with a hidden fee, but what did he care if they took a galleon every time he used it? He only ever spent money once for a few months a year, and had no real use for it during the school year. Plenty of time for it to accumulate back up.

Vernon made sure to book Harry's room in a seedy motel where they didn't really bother with cameras. That way, when he didn't return the next morning no one filed a 'missing kid' report.

This summer was going to be _fun_.


	16. Chapter 16

Hermione finally tracked Harry and Archer down a full month into summer. Her parents had been horrified that he had essentially learned how to run around a few European countries with no adult supervision.

If asked, they would honestly say they weren't horrified at the lack of adult supervision with a child (they had gotten over that years ago, once they realized they were essentially raising two children after Harry became Hermione's best friend), but rather at the thought of the chaos Harry could leave in his wake if left alone.

So when they found him, they were pleasantly surprised to find he hadn't caused any international incidents.

That didn't mean he hadn't stirred up some trouble though.

"Who is this?"

"Professor Zelretch. He has something to do with Archer, but I've never attended his class," said Hermione.

"_Be glad for that. Zelretch is a troll, and he makes the lives of any poor bastard under him a living hell," _said Archer.

Zelretch only grinned wider.

"Wait, so you were with a professor the entire time?"

"More or less. Coincidentally I spent a full two weeks with his grandson. Interesting bloke, even if he does look too much like a girl," said Harry.

Interesting didn't even begin to cover Black Wing, or the fact that he was one of the odd alternates that happened every once in a while with the soul known as "Harry Potter". The two of them got along smashingly after the first five minutes.

Mostly because Harry acknowledged he wasn't entirely human, nor did he distinguish between human and not unless told. Black Wing looked human enough, and spoke English, so that was enough for him to like the guy. So long as he didn't try to eat, maim or over-troll him, he could care less about the particulars of his life unless he _had_ to care.

Besides, after the first week with Black Wing (thank you time-dilation area), the purple haired dark god held him under the Crucio spell for a full five minutes at full power.

Now, under normal circumstances that would automatically fry the nerve endings of the brain permanently, especially at the power it was held at. It was well over a hundred times stronger than even Dumbledore.

Then again Black Wing was possibly the only being Harry knew who could pour all the negative emotions required for the torture curse at a concentrated level.

After hearing how Harry had an automatic defense against the three Unforgivables, he decided to test it. Considering the Crucio would accelerate Harry's brain to that of a Time Lord (the degree depended on the strength of the curse), it was probably a good thing Black Wing did it before giving Harry any real degree of training.

Now Harry could handle the big things without short-circuiting again. But he would leave the last curse for last.

Hermione pinched her nose.

"Please for the love of magic tell me you didn't deliberately get someone arrested for using the torture curse on you."

"Give me some credit 'Mione. He used the curse in a dimension where people wouldn't pick it up and at a level no human could possibly match, without a wand I might add. At least I won't feel like my brain is overheating anymore."

"You do realize the teachers are going to be furious, right?"

"Probably, but it was done in the spirit of learning more about the defense I created for the Unforgiveables. Coincidentally, we found that you can replicate two of the three defenses I used, but the third only works if you already have two hearts."

Hermione looked constipated. Then again, that's how she always looked when she felt exasperated at Harry for doing something stupid for the right cause. Then her mind caught up to what Harry said.

"Wait a bloody minute. You mean to tell me that you could replicate the perfect mental defense and the accelerated mind defense?!" she said incredulous.

"Yup. And without half the things my past self went through in order to create them to boot."

"You do realize that now that your brain is working at full capacity, I'm going to put you through the absolute wringer during exams," she deadpanned.

"More like you'll try, and then I'll get put through hell by someone who actually knows what they're doing when it comes to abject humiliation and suffering during exams," said Harry, hooking a thumb at Zelretch.

"_He's got you pegged,"_ snorted Archer.

"So where have you been all this time?"

"Well I spent two weeks with a dark god of malevolent intent, France, Russia, Italy, Rome...oh, and word to the wise, I may or may not have gotten banned from Vatican city for the next ten years," said Harry.

Hermione pinched her nose again.

"What did you do?"

"Blame him. He hit me with a spell that removed all my clothing when I went into the Sistine Chapel and I didn't realize it until after the security had to hurry me out. Fortunately they didn't seem to realize Archer wasn't corporeal when he claimed me as his 'brother'. Whatever Black Wing did when he tampered with my bracelet made Archer a little more visible to normal people."

Actually all Black Wing did was make the bracelet more efficient. He found the entire concept of Avalon rather fascinating, especially the fact they were years away from what the muggles were doing using technology alone.

Besides, hearing about the Greek gods from someone who had been around when they were alive was highly educational. Good thing Rider didn't mind talking about them.

"...Harry, is that a book written in ancient Greek?"

"Borrowed it from Black Wing while we were in Greece. He seemed to find my willingness to treat him like a normal person rather refreshing, considering some of my alternates are assholes," said Harry.

Actually from what he heard, quite a few of the alternates were prejudiced against him because Black Wing was a vampire god of malevolent intent.

"Where did you learn Ancient Greek?"

"From Medusa," said Harry with a straight face. He spent a full twelve hours conversing in the language before the translation spell kicked in and 'downloaded' the full language into his brain. The side effect was that it let him learn how to read the language as well, but it took at least half a day before that effect kicked in. For just the language, you had to use it for five hours.

The first gen who created it (naturally being a fan of _Doctor Who_) called it the TARDIS translator, only the effects were permanent.

And Black Wing had been more than happy to abuse the hell out of it, because Harry now spoke ten different languages...one of which, much to his pleasure, was Japanese. He no longer had to read the poorly subtitled anime ever again. A fact that seemed to amuse his 'alternate', though they couldn't be further apart.

He did seem to find the fact Archer was still blaming Zelretch for being stuck attached to a thirteen-year-old displaced half-alien hilarious though. Though if things worked out right, then the only human parts of Harry would be psychological and not physical. Time Lords had a lot of perks, body wise, but they were seriously stunted mentally in his opinion. How else could one explain the arrogance of the High Council, or the insanity of the Master?

"You do realize that now we've found you, there's no chance Mum will let you wander around Europe alone anymore."

Harry's face blanked, before he looked like he was kicking himself. Why hadn't he thought of that?! Oh yeah, Hermione's wrath if she learned they were in the same country and he didn't meet up with her.

Emma looked over Harry. Then sighed.

"If you behave the rest of the summer with us, I'll try to keep an open mind about next year with the idea of you traveling all over Europe and possibly the Americas alone, with just Archer. But only if you agree to meet up with us a few weeks before school so we can make sure you've been eating right and have done your homework."

With how lax the Dursleys were, this was as close as Harry was going to get to an independent summer on his own until he was fifteen. He'd take it...anything was better than two mind-numbing weeks with the Dursleys and then five days with Mrs. Figg until he was able to escape to Hermione's house.

* * *

When they returned to Britain, Harry had to raise an eyebrow at the sheer number of people trying to find "Harry Potter".

"What's going on?" he asked a random cop, hiding his face under his baseball cap.

"The family went out on vacation, but returned without their nephew. Neighbor called it in the second she realized the nephew wasn't with them and hadn't been seen," he replied gruffly. And from what the neighbor testimony said, she wouldn't be surprised if something happened to the 'poor boy'.

"Which neighbor?" asked Harry, wondering if she was the reason he couldn't move in directly with the Grangers and had to hide behind 'sleepovers' that lasted for days at a time.

"Cat woman by the name of Mrs. Figg."

"Huh. You do realize she might have gotten a few facts wrong, don't you?" said Harry, lifting his cap so the cop could see his face.

"You Harry Potter?"

"Yes, and my 'uncle' agreed to let me stay with the family in Majorca until my friend's family picked me up. They were on a tour of Europe and happened to be visiting Majorca before heading to Spain," said Harry, only half lying. The part about him waiting in Majorca for Hermione's family was a lie, the part about meeting up in Spain wasn't.

"Let me get this straight. Your aunt and uncle let you travel with a friend's family after running into them overseas? And you've been with them this entire time?" he asked.

"To be fair, I generally spend my time with my friend's family and not at home. My aunt and uncle prefer not to be reminded I exist, so they don't ask questions about why I rarely live there anymore," said Harry flatly.

The cop seemed to come to a decision.

"Mind coming to the station with me so we can clear this mess up?"

"Any chance that nosy neighbor will be arrested for filing a false report?"

"Considering she jumped to conclusions, probably."

If Mrs. Figg _was_ reporting his actions to someone, Harry planned to get her chased out of Surrey in short order.

Shouldn't be too hard. Most of the people in Little Whinging disliked having a 'crazy cat lady' around, even if she was considered harmless.

A week before they were to return to Avalon Academy, Mrs. Figg was more or less chased out of Little Whinging. But that wasn't entirely Harry's concern at the moment.

He had been designated the official 'greeter' for two of the four new exchange students coming to Avalon. Specifically Lovegood and Longbottom.

Luna Lovegood had been the first of the Hogwarts four (as they would likely be called) to reply with an enthusiastic 'Yes' to the exchange.

For every student who had agreed, one student from Avalon would be exchanged. At least, in the case of Hogwarts anyway. With the other schools the ratio would be 2 students for every 1 sent.

Which meant he would be in the school a full three days before everyone else. It would help the Hogwarts students adjust to the high level of technology used in Avalon Academy.

Hermione was torn between miffed that he got a head start at school, and sympathetic because he had to deal with four students from a backwards school and no doubt a plethora of headache inducing questions.

Either way, it was sure to be interesting.

* * *

The twins didn't know what to think of the invitation. At first they thought their mother had gotten a letter from Hogwarts stating they had been expelled, but that was quickly disproved by the fact that the letter wasn't in McGonagall's handwriting. And after many years of being the bane of her teaching existence, they could recognize hers in a heartbeat.

The second was the fact that the letter clearly stated that the supplies and tuition for the year would be paid in advance. They just had to bring clothes and any personal items they generally brought for a full year, like toothbrushes.

Ironically that was the deciding factor in whether they would agree to attend or not. They knew money was tight in their family, at least with their parents, and not having to worry about paying for their fifth year and the supplies for OWLs would help out a lot. Enough so that Ron was finally able to replace his wand, which had broken during a fight with Malfoy.

While the fact they'd be unable to help their team win the Quidditch cup this year was disappointing, the knowledge that they would essentially have an entire school that had no idea of their reputations to prank was too good to pass up.

And then they got the shock of a lifetime. The one giving them the tour of the school was none other than the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter! This year was going to be interesting!


	17. Chapter 17

To their credit, it took the twins less than two weeks to cop on to the fact that only a certain level of pranks was tolerated before they got locked out of their new addictions. Case in point, they were banned from the 'bouncy castle room' for a week after the teachers busted them with traditional wizard pranks that would have left the victims feeling humiliated.

The difference between Hogwarts collective accountability and Avalon's _personal_ accountability soon resulted in something Neville had never seen before.

The twins were actually _behaving_ themselves and it wasn't a front for a massive prank. And, to his shock, they were actually _studying_ for their exams!

If Neville was shocked to see such a vast improvement, it was nothing compared to how their mother reacted when she suddenly realized she hadn't had to send a howler in over two months since school started.

Then again, Avalon had howler wards anyway, and didn't feel the pressing need to inform Mrs. Weasley of _every_ infraction like McGonagall did.

* * *

Harry was standing in the VRA with what looked like a stick. However to the Otaku club, it was more than that.

It was a lightsaber, or would become one once the room switched on.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, the series we're replicating for our exchange students is _Star Wars_. I uploaded all the movements from the movies, animated series, and various nerd-only scenes where they slow down the fight into Archer's programming so he will be our teacher for the basics. For blasters we'll be using standard laser tag equipment and the audience will be equipped with special glasses to see the blasts. These, for those who will be playing the Jedi and the Sith, will be your mock light sabers until you finish the training. For the _Star Wars _otakus, yes, Archer will teach you how to fight like a Jedi for as long as you want. He needs something to occupy his time and he doesn't mind teaching."

"What about Storm Troupers and clones?" asked Ford, who was an absolute nut about the series.

"Well anyone who doesn't want to play a Jedi...and coincidentally Archer will be doing all the 'Jedi Master' or 'Sith Master' scenes, usually with a copy of himself...we have costumes. However most of the white armored sacrifi...I mean 'Storm Troupers' will be digital renderings. And yes, we will be doing a casting call for who plays what in each 'movie'."

The _Star Wars_ nerds snickered. In the age old debate of _Star Trek_ versus _Star Wars_, a Storm Trouper/Clone Trouper's life expectancy in any scene was roughly the same as any random Enterprise crew member wearing a red shirt on an unknown planet. You were better off being a side-character, and if you were slated to be a trouper then you had best write out your will. Figuratively speaking of course. And that was before you got into the fact that the troupers apparently couldn't shoot worth a damn, even with blasters.

"Okay girls, we're going to do the casting call for you first since there were fewer female roles than there were male...and any of you guys with darker skin coloring can line up after them for the role of Lando," said Harry.

"And what role are you going to be playing?" asked one of the less pleasant Otakus.

"Who do you think is going to be giving Archer his lines, and coordinating the battles properly? If nothing else I'll be an Ewok or something, because there's no way I'm getting into that white armor," deadpanned Harry. Everyone snickered at the thought of Harry unleashing his inner "Furry".

The girls and the darker skinned boys all lined up so they could figure out who played what role. Most, if not all, wanted to play Luke and Leia's mother, since quite a few of them remembered that Leia would have to wear an actual slave girl outfit. Unfortunately it was one of the iconic scenes of the final movie, so they couldn't exactly skip it.

Well, that and the sight of Carrie Fisher in such a skimpy sci-fi outfit had spawned numerous dreams that were best not mentioned for nerds since _Return of the Jedi_ first came out in theaters.

Finally they settled on three possible Leia, four for the young Queen turned senator, and the rest chose extra spots once they knew what the people looked like and what role they played.

The rookie members of the club (namely first years) were given the dubious honor of being the expendable padawan children that Anakin killed on order from the Emperor in the third movie. The second years had the honor of all being Ewoks, since they weren't much taller than the first years.

As Harry had already agreed to serve as 'head Ewok' with the condition he got to ride the bike during the scene they stole a Storm Trouper's vehicle, they were okay with that.

* * *

"Okay, will someone please explain why a girl who looks about our age is teaching us magic?" asked Hermione.

"Because Archer wouldn't shut up about Zelretch being around, and he was politely asked not to come back until the trauma had worn off. Well, that and Black Wing was apparently very bored at the moment. Coincidentally that's actually a guy," said Harry, enjoying Hermione's look of disbelief.

"She's not a bossy know-it-all is she?" asked Black Wing.

"She is, but when she gets too bad the SOP is to shove a calming potion down her throat. Plus we've successfully directed her frenzy towards a career in law," said Harry.

"I can take the hint and drink it without you having to hold my nose, thank you," said Hermione frostily.

"Damn. Why didn't I think of that?" said Black Wing.

"So who is he anyway?" asked Hermione.

"I was originally one of his alternates, until I went so far beyond human that there's not a scrap of it left. Hence the reason why I go by Black Wing, otherwise things would be a little too confusing," he replied curtly. It was pretty clear he didn't appreciate the fact she was talking about him in front of his face without addressing him personally.

"Again, no one would think twice if you shoved a calming potion down her throat for getting too wound up," said Harry. Hermione glared at him.

"Remind me why I put up with you?"

"Because I'm the closest thing to a sibling you're likely to have, and we're best friend bibliophiles," said Harry without hesitation.

"Dammit... I hate it when you use my own logic against me."

Black Wing watched it all with patient amusement. It was rare to see a school where they openly invited a malevolent god, his absurdly massive harem, and put up with it all in the name of education. So long as he didn't permanently traumatize the students he was always welcome to come and teach.

"So any idea of what the Otaku and Drama club are doing for next year?"

"_Once Upon A Time_. Thanks to Black Wing we've finally got every season ever made, including the extras, so we're going to host a massive watching party for anyone interesting. Personally I've always loved Regina's character," said Harry gleefully.

Hermione stared at him for a moment before asking slowly "You're not planning to use that ship of yours to find Storybrooke and seduce her into what might become a harem of your own, are you?"

"Maybe. He's mentioned a species called 'Sekirei' and I have to admit I'm a bit intrigued at the idea of permanent companions."

"What exactly are Sekirei?"

"An alien humanoid species who's soul purpose is to find their 'ashikabi' or 'destined one' and who mate for life through a kiss on the lips. The stronger the love between the ashikabi and Sekirei, the stronger their powers become. They have a minor psychic ability that allows them to coordinate with fellow members of their flock and with their Ashikabi," said Black Wing.

"So how are you enjoying Avalon compared to Hogwarts?"

"Far more interesting. I might actually come back next year to teach Magecraft, among other things," he mused. An entire school of teenagers that understood more than half of the things that went into making some of his more interesting toys, and actually paid attention? It was a novel difference from Hogwarts, who couldn't handle the fact he wasn't even human anymore.

And really, he found the strange defense this Harry had developed for the Unforgivables fascinating...and the fact he felt like three minds at once. One was old, one felt like a copy of the first, and the third was Harry.

No wonder he had to add that defense to the Crucio curse. With two minds that were so far above a normal human, coupled with the 'front' mind of Harry, his brain was already working at half-capacity. He needed the boost of having the mind given a kick in the pants with extra memory in order to keep his brain from shutting down.

Though Harry had chosen a rather...odd...way of explaining what Black Wing had done.

"Normal wizards or witches using the Crucio on me would be like added a new processor or memory card. Black Wing using the crucio was like overclocking a supercomputer."

In short, he now had the fastest mind on campus, if not Europe.

And the teachers still refused to return the watch.

* * *

"So what is this again?" asked Harry.

"Animagus potion. I trust I don't have to explain what an animagi is, right?"

Harry took the potion and downed it in one shot. He shuddered at the texture and taste, before his eyes widened and went white. In his mind's eye he saw a vision of something. Whatever it was, it was massive and had wings that felt like a volcano. In the background he felt something...almost the same feeling he got before a massive thunderstorm.

He blinked, and then he came eye to eye with the massive avian beast. It's cry would haunt his dreams, almost taunting him.

Then he blinked twice and it was all over.

"Well?"

"Some form of bird. Felt like I was near an active volcano, with a heavy storm heading in towards me. And the cry was like nothing I've ever heard before."

"Interesting. Your first assignment is to identify which species of bird it is."

"Do you have a record of magical birds?" asked Harry.

"I do. You will have one hour a day to listen to the recordings until you find it. No sense in using up your limited free time, since you were designated the go-to person for the Hogwarts group."

Out of the four students that came to Avalon, the only one who had requested permanent transfer forms was Luna Lovegood. Apparently she was often bullied by her fellow Ravenclaws, but here they took her oddness in stride and often offered help to find the odd creatures she spoke about.

Well, that and the Quibbler was more popular in Avalon Academy than it was in Hogwarts. Luna was already very popular in the Newspaper club.

Harry walked up to Black Wing with a grin on his face a month later.

"Phoenix, or the closest match I could find. That was the only bird I could find with a cry that sounded like the bird I saw," said Harry.

"Very good. Now to narrow down _which_ kind of phoenix it is. The most common is a basic fire-element phoenix."

"I saw the picture of the one on your database... it looked like a fire-element, but the color was off," said Harry.

Black Wing took his half-alien alternate into a smaller VRA room, and then brought up a basic figure of a bird. Then he opened up a color pad and one that had different feathers, beaks, talons and eyes.

"Create your bird, and maybe I can help narrow down what type it is."

Harry went to work, and wasn't satisfied with the rough estimate of the bird until three hours had passed.

Black Wing nodded, having figured out what breed it was.

"Storm Fire phoenix. A rare offshoot of the fire-element and cloud-element phoenix. It's so rare because it's unusual for a cloud-element to even mate with a basic fire."

"So what's my next assignment?"

"You are to create something wearable to suppress animal instincts in humans. I'm not sure how your 'alien' side will react to the animagi process, but I can tell you right now that your human side might be overwhelmed by it."

"...I have some doubts it would overwhelm my Time Lord half. Those that managed to survive becoming a Time Lord also gained a unique ability to change their shape whenever the body became too run-down, and would be able to regenerate the cells into something new. The only issue was that the regeneration usually scrambled the mind a bit, so generally the personality shifts a bit between each new 'body'."

"Like a metamorphamagi," said Black Wing.

"Except the changes are permanent, and there's a known limit to how many times one can regenerate. Though there are some instances when the body keeps the current form."

Or, in the case of the Doctor's "brother", the regeneration energy can lead to a hybrid of human and Time Lord. A metacrisis, to be exact. Knowing the Doctor, he had likely sealed Donna's memories with an extra addition, because if Harry had been unable to handle the required brain-power of a Time Lord without help, there was no way in hell a normal human like Donna could without her mind either shutting down or melting.

The only reason the Doctor's "human" double was able to handle it was because he had the body of a human and the mind of a Time Lord.

Good thing Harry's brain was working at full capacity now. It made looking runes up and working the calculations much easier for him...and it didn't melt his brain.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait... _You_ know PADFOOT? Of the Marauders?!" said Fred (or was it George?) in awe.

"Godfather, and my Vice-Godfather is Moony, according to him."

"What about Prongs and Wormtail?"

"Wormtail was a traitor and got Prongs and his wife killed...and Prongs was my dad," said Harry.

"George?"

"Yes Fred?"

"I do believe we've found a new friend. He's loads better than Ron," said Fred.

"And you know Mum has always had a sucker for strays," said George, rubbing his chin.

"Gentlemen, how would you like to join me on the summer plan I made last year?"

"And what plan is that?"

"A travel around Europe with no parental supervision for at least a month, provided you read up on the laws first. I spent days wandering around Europe until I ran into the Grangers in Spain, and no one said a word about a twelve-year-old on his own."

"We can't exactly afford to travel around Europe...not to mention Mum would have our hides if we did. She always locks up our wands whenever we get home from school," said Fred.

"Yes, but what are the odds she'll find out you're on an all-expense-paid trip around Europe that we'll call a 'learning experience' courtesy of the school?"

"Exploring is fun, but Padfoot _should_ be out of his mandatory therapy by the end of the school year. I'm sure he'd love to fund a trip if it meant inspiring a pair of master pranksters."

The twins shared a look with each other. An entire summer with Padfoot and the boy-who-lived (who was more interesting than they thought, considering the books)...what more could they ask for?

Sure, they'd miss Hogwarts, but Avalon was way more interesting and they didn't have to deal with the weekly howlers.

It was somewhat weird to know that their mother wouldn't be yelling at them with a red envelope twice a week. Even if the point system took a few days to get used to.

The best part was that there weren't any Malfoys.


	18. Chapter 18

Sirius not only agreed to fund and 'chaperone' the extended trip, he even offered to use his newly made connections to secure a round-trip vacation to one of the areas that didn't allow the Knight Bus to go.

Asia.

Naturally when Harry thought to open up the trip to some of his Otaku friends (mostly because Amelia had a wand aimed at some of his more...sensitive...anatomy if he didn't invite her) he had a brilliant idea.

Make it an educational trip in the name of opening up more exchange students from outside Europe. Even if it meant bringing in some of the teachers.

At least this time he wouldn't have to deal with his 'mother' being unhappy about him being alone for weeks on time in between school months.

In the end, Sirius only had to open the way for a large group of students interested in Asian magic and schooling, because there was no way his sudden new fortunes would be able to pay for it.

And unlike Hogwarts, Avalon wasn't above asking for donations to pay for a large 'school trip' that just happened to double as a way for one of the students to reconnect with their godparent.

* * *

Harry presented his attempt at a necklace to suppress the animal instincts of the phoenix, and Black Wing looked it over.

"Why a necklace? And don't I didn't notice you added extra runes to this."

"It's spelled so that it becomes something of a collar when I shift into phoenix form. No point in dropping the thing just because it happened to slip off my neck as a bird. I've also charmed it so that it can withstand up to dragon fire, since I haven't got anything else to base it off of. Mostly because only a pure blood would be stupid enough to try jumping into an active volcano, and they obviously wouldn't know about the other dangers that come with it."

Dangers like toxic fumes, radiation, and the crushing weight of lava.

Black Wing snorted in agreement at that assessment of pure bloods.

"I'll give you credit for at least coming up with a decent start, but dragonfire isn't nearly as hot as the fire that comes off a phoenix when it bursts into flames. And the breed you've landed is even hotter, because it lives in active volcanoes and breeds during hurricane season."

Harry had an odd look on his face.

"Why would it only breed during hurricane season?"

Black Wing had an amused expression on his face.

"From what I understand lightning quickens the...ahem...male phoenix while the female uses the currents to stay aloft longer while they mate. If they hit a particularly good one at the right angle, then there's a chance they might have three eggs, or possibly four."

"Fascinating. So what's next?"

"First we see what you did wrong on these rune sequences. If you want to fly with wings, you're going to do it one step at a time...and don't try asking Sirius for help either."

"I've heard how long it took him to achieve his dog form. I have no intention of half-assing this," said Harry flatly. Two years to fully turn into a dog was ridiculous. Taking it one step at a time and understanding how things worked sounded much better.

That way if something went wrong, he would have a chance to fix it and get it right.

"Good. Because if there's one thing that annoys me while teaching it's to deal with someone with the same motivation as Ronald Weasley when it comes to homework. At least you seem to enjoy improving yourself and going the extra mile."

"Who's Ron Weasley?"

"Ask the twins about their youngest brother," came Black Wing's off-hand reply.

Harry did, and the second he heard even a _fragment_ of how unpleasant the boy was he made a point to avoid him if at all possible.

Horrible table manners (he was just barely civilized enough to use a fork, knife and spoon properly), very little hygiene (he rarely brushed his teeth or bathed), was an absolute bastard to the Slytherin or Dark aligned families because he automatically 'assumed they would become Death Eaters', and he bullied the weaker students in order to get them to do his homework. How he made it to third year was a bit of a mystery, because he hated work and had the lowest grades next to two Slytherins named Crabbe and Goyle, and even they were considered higher on the student totem pole than Ron. They at least bathed regularly, if only because Draco reminded them to.

Harry had a plan, and it was guaranteed to at the very least kill the boredom he currently felt.

He approached "Professor" Black Wing with a proposal, since Zelretch hadn't been of much use at all, even with the amusement his trolling brought to those who weren't his victims.

"Yes?"

"How would you like to play around with a ship that travels through time and space and is powered by an eleventh-dimensional being tied to the mainframe of the ship itself?" asked Harry seriously.

"Go on."

"I have access to a planet where someone invited past the ward scheme can procure a ship called a TARDIS, or Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. With it you could literally travel to any when or where in time and space, provided it doesn't cross your own time stream. There are certain events that are considered Time-Locked, and others where time can be changed like if a twentieth century human were killed in the thirteenth," said Harry.

Black Wing was clearly interested, if only because this wasn't something he often came across.

"Each ship automatically comes with a 'bigger on the inside' room scheme, a translator for all but the oldest of languages such as the Universal Language or Gallifrey's native tongue, and can even change the outside shape of the hull. There's also a standard notice-me-not charm on the hull and a siege mode which turns it into a box."

"Interesting. What's in it for you if you happen to give me one of these...ships."

"I need help with giving it some extra places to travel, and possibly the languages."

"Inter-dimensional travel, I take it?" said Black Wing, openly amused.

"Exactly. Humans have breached the dimensions before, but it cooked the planet. Using magic however wouldn't have that drawback, because any holes made would automatically seal themselves since you would be using natural pathways instead of forcing a new one to open."

"The Yggdrasil theory, correct?"

Harry nodded.

The Multi-verse theory, or Yggdrasil theory if you were magical, stated that for every planet there was an alternate where things were either slightly different or very different indeed. Things like a Harry who was pure Light, or one that was the most evil bastard imaginable.

Harry mostly wanted to visit the original "Doctor" and give him a bloody nose for dumping him on his ex-companion. Well, that and drive him nuts trying to find the 'Time Lord' that managed to avoid the destruction of Gallifrey...though it wasn't _exactly _what he thought happened.

One of the few memories Harry could recall without having the watch on him was the truth of what happened to Gallifrey, the home world of the Time Lords.

Everyone thought the Doctor had used the Moment to destroy the Time Lords and Daleks.

In reality the Moment played a fast one on the Doctor, and tricked him into sending it into an alternate pocket dimension where time was frozen.

The thing was, 'she' had to break one of the rules of time, which was never cross your own timeline to pull it off. As a result (and to avoid a nasty paradox) the 3 Doctors who had been involved had their memory forcibly suppressed.

However, since he _wasn't_ the Doctor and came into being before the incident happened, his memory of the event wasn't blocked. Though the only reason he remembered it at all was because the War Doctor had his recollection of the events scrambled by the regeneration process.

Since he wasn't part of the events personally, there was no need to block the memory.

Besides, since there wasn't any Doctor in this universe...his original half had looked extensively before concluding he died alongside his people or never dealt with humans long enough to be noticed in recent history.

Considering he had looked thoroughly for anyone calling themselves "Doctor" that happened to coincide with mysterious happenings, deaths, or other anomalies...and found squat. Not even the familiar blue box popped up.

Which was rather disappointing, because he could have dumped Rose on him and be done with it.

He was just glad that he was able to find Gallifrey in this universe, even if the Time Lords had apparently been wiped out by a plague and not the Daleks. At least they left behind their technology and knowledge. And the plague itself had been wiped out eons ago, without any carriers.

"Sounds interesting enough. What's the time frame we're looking at?"

"Until I graduate, by then the teachers have agreed to return the watch since I kept having trouble sleeping. There's another project I thought you might be interested in doing..."

"And what's that?"

"Putting an eleventh-dimensional being into a body, preferably a cyborg or android. Biological have trouble coping with that level," said Harry, remembering an episode with the 'Eleventh' Doctor where the TARDIS was put into a "humanoid" body. It was titled "The Doctor's Wife".

"Hmm...well if nothing else at least you have some intriguing ideas of how to cure my current level of boredom...which was more that I could ever say of my Hogwarts years."

Honestly after fourth year he was glad to leave that drafty old castle.

"On an unrelated note, what was your plan for your second avatar? I overheard the teachers saying that since you got the 'mental upgrade' they were thinking of letting you create another a year early."

They limited the avatars to two per person as a safety precaution, because most wizards couldn't handle more than that. And the second was usually kept in digital form while the first had a holographic self.

Harry was unusual in that he could support three, and that was because his 'first' avatar was technically a spirit bound to him...one that he planned on fixing so that the spirit had an actual body by tampering with a 'time-locked event'. As long as it didn't destroy the universe or meddle with magic best not thought about, the teachers could care less.

Coincidentally those that graduated from Avalon had a slightly different set of morals than those of Hogwarts, who hated to push the boundaries of science. For example they didn't consider 'necromancy' a dark magic unless you both failed it spectacularly (thus creating a zombie apocalypse) and were caught by the idiot pure bloods who ran the Ministry.

It was the little things that made lesser (read: sane) men cry that made life worth living.

Case in point, Harry fully planned to test the sanity level of the Doctor by acting like Luna Lovegood on a sugar high.

That had been an entertaining evening, but no where near as funny as when she got her hands on those 'special brownies' the eighth years had given out to the students before the teachers confiscated them...and ended up eating.

On a completely unrelated note, the students learned pretty quick that hallucinogenic plants/drugs/items and Seer's blood combined with recent Fae heritage plus magic meant that some of the creatures most people didn't have a hope in hell of seeing suddenly became visible...or were dreamed up by said witch.

Personally Harry was inclined to believe either theory, all he knew was that he got the fun of watching his sister Hermione's head explode trying to 'disprove' them. Magic only knew Black Wing had a good laugh watching Hermione trying to convince herself that the creatures didn't exist.

Definitely more fun than Hogwarts, according to Black Wing, the twins, and Luna.

"Originally I was going to go phoenix, but since that's my animagi form I'm going to choose Celebi."

Black Wing blinked.

"Why Celebi?"

"Because in fifth year they teach you to synch up with your avatar like they would with unison devices in Nanoha, and there's no way I'm synching up with a pessimist like Archer."

Black Wing snorted. Pessimist was putting it mildly.

"Why not another Servant?"

"Because we both know Archer would try to 'subtly' shift me to Saber, and I'm not stupid enough to summon her. I could try to recreate Rin, if only for the giggles I'd get from seeing the pained look on his face, but that would get boring eventually too. And there's no way I could come close to recreating you, which is also out. You're just too damn weird."

Black Wing smirked.

"I noticed you said nothing about Rider, Gilgamesh, Illya, Sakura, Lancer, Caster or Berserker."

"Three of them are Greek, which I am not going to touch with a ten-foot-pole, one of them is a battle maniac, one's got a bizarre split personality, one has a brother fetish, and the last one might be funny for about five minutes, but would get old quickly. Not to mention the fact I don't have a death wish, which is what would happen if I accidentally summoned Gilgamesh and the same summoning issue was somehow recreated with him."

"True."

Gilgamesh would overreact...and badly...if he found out some wizard had summoned him along with a Faker. And without any command seals, Harry would be a sitting duck.

"You could always use a game character."

"Hmm... Tenebrae from _Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New Age,_ Okami from _Okami_, or Chibitarasu, from the DS version... Hell, I managed to convince Hermione to make her second avatar Gatomon, because of what she turns into later."

Hermione, strangely enough, had a thing for angels. Harry didn't bother to ask, but he assumed it had something to do with the fact Dan was from a Catholic family and one of the first books Hermione read was a bible.

Hence why she loved the idea of having a cat that could turn into a female angel that could kick ass. She already loved his first suggestion, since Rein was able to sort through legalize in a matter of seconds rather than hours.

She still wasn't an Otaku though.


End file.
